War Unending
by Nothing To Prove
Summary: I wrote a fanfic ages ago, but never bothered finishing it. Then I got KH2. Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

**War Unending**

**Chapter 1: Home Comings**

**Destiny Island**

**1 year ago:**

The skies above Destiny Islands split with twin streaks of light and Sora and Riku landed within the cool waters of the sea. The sun was beating down and the sky was clear. They both emerged with a spray of water and a sharp exhalation of breath. They both looked around once and began swimming towards the nearby beach, the familiar golden sands shone out like a beacon to them both. Then an even brighter beacon came into sight: Kairi. She stood on the shoreline calling emphatically to them both, waving and shouting. Her radiant smile was visible even from this distance.

They had finally made it home, after all the battles, all the heartache, the pain and suffering, they had finally made it home. It had been three long years since they had both left this island involuntarily. The darkness had come and destroyed their home and cast them both across space through the corridors of darkness that linked all worlds. They both had endured much but both were just glad to finally be home.

They emerged from the shallow water to be instantly set upon by Donald, Goofy and King Mickey, heartfelt greetings and congratulations were exchanged among the group, in between embraces and bouts of laughter. They had all made it this time, no one left behind.

The celebrations lasted long into the night, a fire was lit with whatever driftwood could be found and everyone gathered around it. King Mickey sat with Pluto sprawled out across his lap absently scratching his faithful friends chin. Sora was sat, stretched legs before him with Kairi sitting in his laps, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, while Riku had found a small rock to perch himself upon and Donald and Goofy took up positions either side of their king.

They all spoke of their activities over the last three years, everything they had seen, all the people they had met, their actions and personal experiences. Everything from the disappearance of Destiny Islands, King Mickey's interactions with Ansem the Wise to Riku's journeys in the darkness and Sora's crusade to save the worlds from the Heartless and later, Organisation XIII. This was in between bouts of laughter, moments of tense silence and sorrow at the recounting of a fallen comrade. The story swapping lasted until the first rays of light broke over the horizon.

Unbeknownst to those sat there around the hearty little fire on that paradise island, a pair of eyes was watching intently. The eyes were set in an armoured skull; cranial plating hid its forehead and most of its skull, what little hair the creature possessed was patchy and matted together. The pitiful creature resembled an emaciated gargoyle. Its calloused tongue hung out over small needle like teeth, like a worm caught in a trap. Its wiry body and gangly limbs displayed signs of scarring and metal plates had been roughly riveted in place leaving the skin looking taught and sore. Small tattered wings held it aloft, pumps and gears had been cruelly attached where the wings met the torso.

The creature watched the group intently from afar. It hovered just beyond sight, just as its master had ordered it to. The creature knew it was no more than a puppet, it served as the master's eyes, what it saw, the master saw and the creature could feel the master's presence in the back of its skull and the burning sensation gradually worsened. The master was laughing, he liked what he saw. With a single command which only the creature heard, it turned and slowly fluttered into a portal of darkness that appeared behind it. The master liked what he saw indeed.

**Disney Castle**

It had been a momentous day. The King had finally returned home, along with his loyal retainers. The entire kingdom rejoiced aloud at the sight of their king's gummi ship. Fireworks lit up the sky with a near incomprehensible amount of colours and patterns. People leapt and danced in the street. They all took the sign of their leaders return to meaning only one thing: the war against darkness was over. They and all other worlds were safe again. Peace would reign eternal.

Within the home of the king, there were more personal, but no less joyous re-unions. The trio emerged from the gummi ship to be almost bowled over by two small bundles of ecstatic fur, though there were questions as to whether Chip and Dale were more pleased to see the king or to see that there gummi ship had returned in one piece. They left the gummi hanger and emerged into the daylight. Disney Castle looked radiant and gleaming, its heraldry fluttering proudly in the morning breeze. The garden looked slightly unkempt but all things considered, this was of little concern.

As soon as the trio entered the Grand Audience chamber of the castle, they were greeted by the Queen and her handmaiden. Daisy Duck threw etiquette to the wind as she bowled Donald over and locked him in a bear hug like embrace. Goofy looked on and chuckled. Then King and Queen were finally re-united before the thrones with a simple embrace that contained more depth than any sea across the worlds.

They were home, all of them this time.

**Brotherhood Titan Class Battle Cruiser: Goliath, **

**In orbit around Hollow Bastion's moon **

**1 Week Ago:**

Amid the vast darkness of space, the battle group hung silently like a shoal of sleeping leviathans. Stars shone and the glow of Hollow Bastion's moon reflected off of the opaque hulls of the five colossal warships, their engines glowing gently adding to the lights of the stars around them.

Each one measured almost two thousand meters from their vast engine array to their hammer shaped prow. The central shaft that connected the prow and engines, was pock marked with weapon emplacements at regular intervals, while much larger guns were fixed to either side of the prow. They were breathtaking to behold, the pride of the Brotherhood space armada. To serve aboard one of the Titan class warships was a fast track to promotion.

Aboard the lead warship, a crimson hulled giant, that had the designation: Goliath, the command deck was a hive of activity. Two rows of sunken crew stations were arrayed around a central command pillar where the commander of each ship would be stationed. Aides and other crewmen moved between the crew pits carrying printouts and PDA's with a dizzying array or data on.

Sitting quietly, watching the swirling star field through the observation dome above his station, was the Commodore of this particular battle group. His crimson uniform with golden trim was in stark comparison to the drab olive green uniforms worn by his crew. The man was in his early forties, but already his hair was nearly white, as was his neatly kept beard. His well defined facial features were impassive to the organised chaos around him.

Commodore Gregori Karchev was a veteran of hundreds of battles, spanning three successful campaigns of conquest and expansion in the Brotherhood's name. Though he tired of the constant warfare, he seemingly sprang to life again in combat situations. He had seen more death and instigated more subjugation than any man his age had the right to, but he was an officer of the armada and it was his duty.

"Sir, we have confirmation that the Nobody fleet is here, reason for return is unknown at the moment". The Commodore had not noticed the young female crewmen approach, lost in his thoughts. She handed a printout to the Commodore before saluting and slowly walking back towards the crew pits. The Commodore watched her shapely behind move beneath the form fitting skirt until she was out of sight and then skipped through the report he had been given.

There had been no reports from the ground units on Hollow Bastion that gave a reason for the Nobody fleet returning. The situation was still the same as it had been since they arrived here two days ago. Now, judging from this report, they had returned en-mass, possibly the entire Nobody concentration was here, but why? What was on that little planet below that warranted such a show of force?

"Sir! A communication from Earth, priority one", a voice shouted from the crew pit, breaking the Commodores reverie.

"Redirect it to my personal viewer", Karchev said with as much false enthusiasm as he could manage. It was probably another one of the central government's underlings requesting a progress report. Karchev grimaced; we are no further than last time you infernal desk jockeys.

"My Lord Darkane, this is an unexpected-", he began. Any sign of irritation was quickly replaced by military professionalism when the face on his seats viewer came into focus.

"Have you located them?" the shrouded face said evenly. The voice was deep and cold like space, only the gaze of those barely visible eyes made one feel like they were trapped in the corner of a tiny room.

"Yes my lord, we are making preparations to engage the Nobodies as per your orders", Karchev could feel the gaze of Earth's ruler bore into him even though they were thousands of light years away and it made him shudder.

"Good, I have sent your location to the 39th through to 50th battle groups and they will join you soon, when they do, destroy the entire Nobody fleet, leave no survivors", with that, the image faded. Karchev only then noticed he was sweating. He allowed his mind to process what he had just heard. Eleven other battle groups were on their way here? With a further fifty-five ships, the Nobody fleet would be reduced to dust in moments. Karchev could not help but feel he was missing the true importance of this battle.

"Tell our units on the ground to stay alert, the Nobodies are here and they are after something", Karchev said to his communications officer. As he continued barking out orders, proximity indicators began sounding. He turned his attention to outside and a feral grin spread across his face.

Outside, the serenity of space was suddenly shattered as almost sixty portals opened up like lacerations in space and from each one emerged a single warship. There were several different class of ship present, ranging from the immense Titan class battle cruisers, to the Trojan class carriers which immediately began disgorging F-30 Assault fighters and B-900 Heavy bombers. The mass of ships quickly began reforming into some semblance of order as each group registered its presence with Karchev's.

The Commodore felt the exhilaration of battle creep through his being as he began organising the fleet that had appeared around him. He smiled to himself proudly as sixty ships left the moons shadow and emerged into the starlight, like a shoal of deadly fish. He regarded the Nobody fleet, hanging silently above Hollow Bastion and laughed as the tremble of multiple weapon batteries powering up shook the ship. He gave one simple command over the communication network to all the other ships.

"Wipe them out".


	2. Chapter 2

**War Unending**

**Chapter 2: The Shattered Mirror**

**Destiny Island**

**6 days ago:**

Kairi was dreaming. She turned in her bed, moaning and wincing in pain. Her hands balled into fists: the images were too much. Outside, the pale moon shone through a cloudless sky illuminating the small houses arrayed near the beach of Destiny Islands main islet. It reflected off of the sweat on Kairi's forehead that was matting her hair also. The nightmares were the same the last two nights over.

She was standing back at the doors of Kingdom Hearts, almost four years ago. Sora and the others were forcing the doors shut before the Heartless poured forth. But something was different this time. Someone was laughing. It was a bone chilling, humourless laugh, almost mocking. It came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. She could not identify the source of the laughter and she scanned the nothingness around where she stood, finally, against the backdrop of darkness she saw something move.

There were six of them. They stood clad head to ankle in long, dark coats, except for one who wore a crimson red long coat. Their faces were hidden and each brandished a weapon of some kind. Organisation XIII and Ansem the Wise: what were they doing here? Something felt fundamentally wrong about this entire situation.

They were arrayed in a half circle behind Sora, who was unaware of their presence. They began closing on him, Ansem hanging back. Kairi yelled to Sora to turn around, but he could not hear her. She cried and screamed in frustration but to no avail. She tried to move but found her limbs sluggish and unresponsive.

Before the robed figures could completely close the distance between them and Sora, they were suddenly and violently thrown backwards, as though they had been struck by a massive invisible fist. Kairi felt the shockwave like a vortex hit her, but she remained steadfast. When they finally stopped, Kairi noticed that their hoods had fallen from their heads, but where the all too familiar faces of Organisation XIII's surviving members should have been, there faces were twisted shadow silhouettes, completely different yet at the same time familiar. Their eyes glowed yellow and they were trained intently on Sora.

Kairi, feeling having returned to her body, leapt and cheered in relief, but her joy was cut suddenly short. The cruel laughter that had faded into the background while these events transpired inexplicably stopped. A void appeared behind Sora, who was still closing the doors of Kingdom Hearts. The void was darker than darkness, a primeval horror radiated from the void and what materialised from that void would haunt Kairi's sleep forever.

A figure appeared from the void, the darkness dripping from him like vile ooze from a wound. It was a young man; Kairi was immediately struck by how handsome he was. A shock of silver hair crowned his well defined facial features foremost among them, his bright eyes. His clothing was unfamiliar to Kairi, but there was something almost familiar about him that she could not quite place. He stepped from the void, which closed behind him.

The supposed Organisation members had regrouped and were now converging on the young man. Ansem had appeared beside Kairi; she regarded him quickly before going back to watching the events before her unfurl. The Organisation mimics shot towards the stranger at impossible speeds, weapons poised to strike. The young man simply raised a hand in front of them. The coated figures came to a sudden halt, their postures clearly demonstrating their shock and their yellow eyes widening into small suns. The laughter began again; it was coming from the young man. In a voice that chilled Kairi to the core of her being, he spoke, his voice tantalizingly familiar.

"Your judgement is upon you. The countless lives you have taken and the many more you have made suffer cry for your destruction. I have come to bring this conflict to an end: you, this place", his free arm encompassing Kingdom Hearts, "and especially you", he turned to Sora, cold hatred burning in his green eyes. Sora had since turned around; the door to Kingdom Hearts now closed and was now staring at the group behind him, confusion evident from his pose.

The stranger turned back to the coated figures, still unable to move. "You, who would try to play God, know this: true power belongs only to those who can use it without hesitation". With a gesture, the dark robed figures all burst into black flames; the screams of pain were almost unbearable. The screams were those of creatures not possessing a voice, but suddenly had one solely to express their agony.

"You who began this nightmare: this blight upon all life. Death would be too quick for you, perhaps I should give you a taste of the pain you made me feel" The young man began to raise his other arm, but stopped. "No, I shall cast you into the non-existence that you consigned those countless billions to and there you shall rot". The young man made another gesture with his free arm and another void, the same vile darkness leaking from it, opened below the Organisation members. They slowly began to sink into the void; their cries of terror were cut short when the void closed after them. The young man turned to face Sora.

Sora was in a combat stance, Donald on one side, Goofy on the other. The young man laughed again. His arms spread open and the doors of Kingdom Hearts burst open in a shower of light, Sora spun around, horror and disbelief on his face. Countless Heartless began flooding from the doors towards the small group. Before they could strike though, their bodies began to dissolve into mist; dissolving into a haze that clung to the ground. The Heartless jerked and looked around, as if in fear, if they were capable of such an emotion.

The young man continued laughing as the final Heartless sunk into the ground. The thick mist drifted past Sora and seeped into him. The laughter became deeper and louder as the young man's body suddenly began distorting and warping. He grew twenty, maybe thirty times larger, his flesh dissolved away to reveal a skeleton permeated with darkness. The mist reformed around the bones in a mockery of flesh and muscle, leaving only the skull still exposed, twin blood-red flames burning in the hollows of his eye sockets.

The creature reared back and offered an inhuman and terrifying roar to the stars above as if in defiance to them. The darkness became solid again, obsidian muscles glistening in the light from the inside of Kingdom Hearts. The creature roared as its newly formed muscles split and revealed a carapace seemingly composed of ebon diamond. Living darkness crept over the still bear skull like a carpet of beetles and reformed into an armoured helm. A tattered cape of darkness descended from the creature's shoulders to its feet, billowing in the slight breeze.

Sora and his companions, undaunted by the creature's size, charged, each issuing a war cry as they did. The creature gazed down at the onrushing trio, contempt readable within its crimson eyes. With a sweep of one massive fist, Donald and Goofy were thrown backwards against the doors of kingdom Hearts. They impacted with violence that almost made Kairi wretch. She stared at their still forms, tears streaming from her eyes, but she turned her gaze back to Sora.

Sora leapt at the creature, dodging another swing from its other fist, his Keyblade glinting in the light as he raised it above his head. He bought it down on the creatures' leg and the carapace cracked and splintered. Kairi's shouted her encouragement to Sora as he landed back on the ground with a half flourish. The creature stared down at the shattered armour on its leg before turning back to stare at Sora. A voice boomed out from somewhere within the armoured shell of the creature.

"Sora, why do you oppose me? You can't beat me, you never could, cease your pointless struggle and I will end your miserable existence quickly". The creature's fist shot down to where Sora stood. Sora back flipped out of the way landing in a combat stance.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Sora screamed at the creature, tears of rage coursing down his cheeks. He zigzagged towards the creature and then leapt again, only to be caught mid-flight in a monstrous hand. He was then lifted to eye level with the creature.

"I am Judgement, Dark Angel of Redemption", the voice boomed again. Kairi screamed and cried at the creature to release Sora, but it made no indication it had heard her. "And I have come to end this misery that you and those other fools have caused", the hand tightened and Sora screamed in pain. The voice quietened slightly. "You have caused me so much pain; you took everything from me and for what? You couldn't even stop them; you couldn't protect Kairi, but fear not, for now I have ended it all at last, just one last piece left".

The creature turned to Kingdom Hearts with a slow and deliberate motion. The creature's free arm raised and straightened. Darkness gathered at in its palm and finally exploded out in a cutting beam. "Now it truly ends" The explosion of light was near blinding as the beam pierced Kingdom Hearts like a surgeons blade. Kairi shut her eyes as the light exploded out like blood from a wound. She could hear Sora screaming in disbelief at what had just happened, then silence.

The silence was interrupted by a voice. The voice was sad and weary. Kairi knew the voice as that of Ansem the Wise, whom she had forgotten about in all the chaos.

"What have I done?" he said simply. There was more sorrow in that one statement than Kairi believed could be expressed by mere human expression. Kairi's hearing was suddenly assaulted by a million voices, no, one voice that was speaking or had spoken a million times. She could not tell, the voice was familiar but yet so alien to her.

I will not die. I had to use darkness. I did not imagine it. The door is open Sora. You'll pay Sora I swear to all the dark powers, you'll pay. Let's stay here Sora, in the darkness. Your Majesty? Why do you have a Keyblade? A power beyond imagination. You couldn't protect her! I want them back (agonised sobs)!

The voices screamed through Kairi's mind like a razor wind, she clutched her ears and screamed. She felt a hand close on over her shoulder and heard Ansem speak once again.

"I was a fool, I dabbled in something far worse than darkness and the hearts of worlds and now all existence will pay for my stupidity. He did not deserve this existence and I think deep down seeks peace, at any cost".

When Kairi opened her eyes again, she found herself where the creature had stood only seconds ago, Ansem was nowhere to be seen. The only indication that it had stood here was a slowly fading cruel laughter. Kairi glanced to where the doors to Kingdom Hearts had stood and saw nothing. She then looked down and saw the still form of Sora. She immediately dropped to her knees, shaking him and desperately calling his name while tears streamed from her eyes.

He did not move, Kairi collapsed forward sobbing into his prone form, begging him not to leave her again and having only silence as her response, she looked up to the night sky of Destiny Islands and realised they were back on the beach near the peer. The stars began to wink out, one by one leaving all in darkness and Kairi weeping alone and unheard.

A faint voice spoke, barely audible over her weeping, she was certain it was Ansem.

"…Bastion…my study…pass…Tron…Shattered Mirror".


	3. Chapter 3

**War Unending**

**Chapter 3: New Encounters**

**Disney Castle**

**5 days ago:**

King Mickey paced across his throne room, again, his footsteps echoing through marble hall sounding as though an army was marching through. He had been pacing like this for an hour or so. Queen Minnie looked on in concern; he had that look on his face again. It was the same look he got right before he disappeared four years ago to combat the encroaching darkness. It was a dour look of concentration that told everyone around him that he did not want to be disturbed. She tried to break his reverie anyway.

"What's wrong dear?" She knew that he would not answer truthfully. She hated that about her beloved king; he never shared his concerns with anyone. He often said that they were his to bear and his alone. His hand was clasping his chin: never a good sign.

She tried again.

"The preparations for the Universal Peace festival are going well; the representative from Earth has just arrived along with accompanying guests". The King looked up at her at this news. The look of concern was poorly masked by a weak smile and an approving nod.

In the wake of the chaos that was caused by the Heartless and later, Organisation XIII, King Mickey noticed that the walls between the worlds had not been restored. This meant that Scrooge McDuck's theory of creating a network of gummi ships that linked all the worlds could become a reality. Within a week of learning of the Organisation's defeat, the shrewd businessman began sending out exploration vessels crewed by (supposedly) willing astronauts to the far reaches of the galaxy to establish the foundations of this network.

While this network was being born, many space faring races were encountered and many more that only considered space to be a starry night sky. All the races had been peaceful and some even offered their knowledge of space ways to even larger portions of unexplored space. Within half a year, the network was vast and people from a million different worlds were trading and intermingling with their new neighbours. Another unspoken advantage was the now unified front against any further Heartless incursions or attacks from the remnants of the Nobodies.

King Mickey decided that once a year, representatives from all the worlds they had contacted could meet here at Disney Castle and consolidate their relationships with neighbours, plus it was an excuse for a festival of epic magnitude, something that no-one, no matter what world they hailed from, would fail to be amazed at. This gathering would be later named the Universal Peace Festival and the first one was due in a matter of days.

Eventually, after eight months of the Scrooge McDuck Transgalactic Transport Netork being created and fully functional, a new race was encountered. Initial contacts were brief. Spacecraft of an unknown configuration were sighted on the outer edges of the established network paths and when approached or contacted, they melted away into the darkness. Though their actions were not hostile, this avoidance of contact was a reason for concern.

After another two months, a fleet of ships matching the descriptions of the ones that had been seen to be avoiding contact suddenly appeared in the skies above Disney Castle. They began sending out multiple hailing signals to the planet below, greetings in various languages and dialects some of which were familiar to the King and many of which were not. The King proceeded quickly to reply to their new guests. A confirmation was sent back and a request to land on the planet below.

On a verdant plain, just beyond the walls of Disney Castle, several smaller vessels descended from the skies and landed effortlessly. The sun reflected of off their mirror polished hulls and the gentle glow of their engines had drawn a massive crowd from the surrounding towns. They numbered three ships in total. One bore an emblem of a blue and green planet encompassed by a golden bird of prey and appeared more heavily armoured than the other two. The undersides of the two smaller vessels opened with a hiss of released pressure, a gasp was quite audible from the onlookers. King Mickey, flanked either side by his Captain of the Guard and High Court Magician, tensed slightly while Donald let out a barely audible growl.

A ramp extended out from both vessels and two columns of hulking armoured figures descended down each one. They were covered from head to toe in segmented crimson armour, their fully enclosed helms betraying nothing of the person within. A smaller emblem, identical to the one on the lead vessel, was printed on the right chest plate of each of them. Each one held what appeared to be a compact assault rifle that was resting on one shoulder.

They fanned out with precision to form a corridor that began at the base of the slowly descending ramp of the lead ship and ended where King Mickey stood. The ramp finished lowering and a lone figure descended. All the guards immediately dropped to one knee in unison, laying their weapons before them.

The man that descended raised another gasp from the assembled on-lookers. Like his guards, the man was armoured, but his head was exposed. His armour was a brilliant white that seemed to glow with the radiance of a small sun. There was a small black crucifix emblazoned on the centre on his chest plate. His angelic face was crowned by a shock of golden curls, adding further to the radiance of this being. Much to the confusion of the spectators, this individual knelt before the ramp, facing into the hold of the ship.

King Mickey took a few steps forward, flanked by his loyal companions. He was about to approach the white-armoured individual when a presence from within the ship almost knocked him backwards, he visibly steadied himself as this strange energy washed over him, but he seemed to be the only one who had felt anything, Donald and Goofy simply staring at the phalanx of armoured figures either side of them. A sound of footsteps drew everyone's attention to the ship. Another figure was now descending the ramp, a stark contrast to the individual who had only moments ago.

The individual was visibly much taller and much broader than his compatriots. He was un-armoured, clad in a simple black greatcoat with a black linen shirt beneath that. The man's skin was pale and his ebon hair was tied back in a neat ponytail. Despite not appearing as impressive as his cohort, this man exuded an aura of command that was almost palpable. His very presence radiated nobility and power beyond anything the King had ever seen before.

The man slowly and calmly approached King Mickey, his gloved hands at his side. The white armoured figure had fallen in step behind him and smiled to the on-lookers. Some of the women visibly swooned at this gesture. The dark-clad man kept his face neutral and stopped within half a meter of the diminutive King. It was now that the king noticed his guests were apparently un-armed, slightly disconcerting considering they had just landed on an alien world and were surrounded by its inhabitants, yet were seemingly unfazed.

The dark-clad man spoke. "Greeting to you on behalf of the Imperium of Mankind, I am Lord Demitri Darkonev, Grandmaster of the Brotherhood of Shadow and Ruler of Earth and the entire Imperium", he bowed courteously and offered his hand. King Mickey extended his own and returned the greeting. This man's aura of sheer power was overwhelming and King Mickey felt slightly giddy from the touch alone. "We have come in peace and extend the hand of friendship to you all", his voice had risen quite gently but was guided by a strong purpose and it felt as though it had reached the four corners of the world.

Mickey cleared his throat before speaking. "King Mickey of Disney Castle, it's an honour to have you hear", he indicated Donald and Goofy in turn. "These are my loyal retainers and friends, High Court magician Donald and Captain of the Guard Goofy". They both nodded respectfully and Goofy let out a friendly chuckle.

"My companion here is High Procurator Gabriel of the Church of United Earth and my advisor in matters most confident", the words were slick and sincere, Demitri was obviously accustomed to the unspoken parlance of first encounters and establishing levels of superiority. He turned and whispered something to Gabriel, who bowed and turned back towards the ship. The guards simultaneously rose and dispersed among the ships. Demitri turned back to King Mickey. "My men are weary from such a long journey, with your permission, I have authorised them to rest within a thirty meter radius of my shuttle group".

King Mickey nodded. "Sure, no problem, please come to the castle where we can talk more". King Mickey flanked by Donald and Goofy walked into the castle grounds followed by Demitri and Gabriel. Once they were comfortable within the study of castle, they began speaking long into the night and well past midday the next day.

Demitri was the Grandmaster of an organisation of twelve other beings that ruled the vast Imperium of Mankind, numbering seventy or so worlds in a part of space he referred to as the Solar System. The Brotherhood of Shadow ruled from the cradle of all human life, a planet called Earth. A massive space armada patrolled the space between the worlds under the Imperium's rule and sought to encounter new races at every opportunity.

Demitir went on to explain that the goal of the Brotherhood and all humanity was to unite the galaxy under one peaceful and unified banner. To stamp out war and suffering where it was found and he pointedly added that this entailed the utter eradication of enemies that threatened that peace. Demitri explained that they had encountered other races in their expansion and that some of them had not responded favourably to the hand of peace. When King Mickey inquired as to the outcome of these events, Demitri merely smiled and repeated his aforementioned approach to enemies of peace.

He explained in great detail the ascension of humanity and its darkest hour. An event that was known as World War Two had sundered the Earth, long before humanity first ever considered there was life beyond their sky. Millions had perished in a war that scorched the very life from the ground it touched. It was an entire world at war with no end in sight and humanity facing the very real possibility of self destruction. King Mickey was riveted by the tale, as were Donald and Goofy, who often interjected with questions, Demitri showed no sign of irritation as he answered all of their questions as completely as possible.

Eventually, hailing from a land known as Russia, a great and powerful sorcerer arose and gathered about him twelve followers. They bought an end to the war by using their powers to bring the leaders of the world together before eternal night befell humanity. Demitri explained with a small measure of pride that this was his great grandfather, Demitri Darkonev the Wise, founder and first leader of the Brotherhood of Shadow, so named because of their methods of operating from the darkness to guide humanity towards a bright future.

The war ended and humanity has since then been moving onward towards that bright future that Darkonev the Wise had promised. In just over one-hundred and fifty years, humanity had elevated itself from a warring single planet species to a glorious Imperium that had reached to the stars and found a new destiny, to bring peace and enlightenment to the galaxy. Demitri went on to explain about humanities most recent activities, most interesting of which was the encountering of an elusive and somewhat hostile group of beings that had identified themselves as Nobodies.

King Mickey very guardedly explained some of the situation that had occurred, beginning around two and half years ago. Now Demitri was riveted to the Kings story. He listened appreciatively to the story of how the Keyblade wielder had defeated the Heartless and then later the Nobodies, thus saving the worlds from their ravages. The King had finished recounting the tale of Sora and his companions, as Demitri leant back in his chair and exhaled slowly before speaking.

"This Sora sounds like an exceptional being, we all owe him much", his voice was full of genuine admiration. "I would so enjoy an opportunity to meet him", he said, but quickly added "tis a shame I never will".

King Mickey smiled and leant back in his chair also. "Well, I'm planning on Sora and his friends being guests at the first Universal Peace Festival, which leads me to ask you this: would you be so kind as to attend?" King Mickey felt a strong kinship with Demitri despite having only known him for such a short while. As one king to another, he understood the pressures of leadership and the need to take direct action at times of crisis.

Demitri looked up; a smile slowly crept across his sharp features. "It would be my pleasure".

King Mickey snapped back to the present, his encounter with Demitri had left a major impression on him and the memory was still as fresh now as it had been four months ago. He turned and looked at Queen Minnie, she knew he was worried about something but he did not want to concern her with the information he had received from Hollow Bastion two days ago. The Nobodies had re-appeared and not just that, but it appeared that the Imperium of Mankind had had a slight misunderstanding with them above Hollow Bastion and the fighting had spread to the planet below. Leon had told him that there were other matters besides that, but he wanted to discuss them face to face.

The Nobodies had returned and no-one save them knew why and what did the Imperium have to do with it all? King Mickey could not help but feel things were getting interesting again.


	4. Chapter 4

**War Unending**

**Chapter 4: Opening Moves**

**Disney Castle**

**4 days ago:**

Leon was tired and irritated. The journey here from Hollow Bastion had been long and boring, which left Leon tetchy. He breathed a sigh of relief when Disney Castle had come into view and silently thanked whatever powers were listening that he had finally reached here and that he could be rid of the cramped confines of the gummi transport that had bought him here. He turned to the pre-occupied pilot of the small ship and visibly shuddered as the pilot gleefully declared that they would be landing soon.

Launchpad Mcquack was quite possibly the single most gifted pilot in the universe and his scope of opportunity would be near limitless were it not for the fact that he was as dangerous as he was gifted. Bumbling idiot somehow just did not even begin to cover just how Leon and any other sentient being that had flown with Launchpad felt about their pilot.

"Coming in for landing Mr Leon sir", Launchpad said as he turned to look at his guest. "Some sight huh?" he said, sweeping his arm across the view screen encompassing Disney Castle, his head still turned towards Leon.

"Yeah sure, just watch where you're flying", Leon replied as he folded his arms and offered a silent prayer to the same powers that had got him here. He was doing his best to quell the fear and anger he was experiencing while stuck in this ship.

"Oh right!" Launchpad turned back around and began manoeuvring the ship towards the gummi hanger that was opening below them.

"The things I do for the sake of peace…" Leon muttered under his breathe as the ship landed, none to gently in the hanger below and he quickly released his seat restraints and made to leave the ship.

As requested, the only person that had come to greet Leon as he descended the ships ramp was King Mickey in full royal regalia. Leon sauntered down the ramp as casually as he could manage, he did not want to betray any signs of the inner anxiety he was feeling. He patted his inner jacket pocket to check that his precious cargo was still there for the umpteenth time since he had left Hollow Bastion on this trip.

"Leon, good to see you", the King offered his hand to Leon.

"You too", he said flatly as he returned the greeting.

"What's the problem? It sounded very urgent when you contacted me yesterday", the King said as he fell into step beside Leon.

"We've been having some structural problems with several parts of Ansem's former labs and we were wondering if you had the plans here so that we could work from them to correct the problems", Leon replied, his voice still even. There was something wrong and the King could innately sense it. Leon's words and tone of voice did not match his body language and this worried the King. Obviously Leon was waiting until they were somewhere less public before talking further.

They emerged into the gardens and into another bright and cheerful day, the walls of the castle practically glowed white with the light from the sun. Several servants were darting around attending to the hedgerows and flower beds, paying no mind to their visitors. Leon glanced around casually, but his eyes were furiously scanning for something, something was definitely wrong.

As they rounded a corner and emerged onto the main promenade leading to the main of the castle, at the far end of the scenic walkway, another group emerged from an archway and began walking towards Leon and King Mickey. King Mickey saw Leon visibly tense as Demitri Darkonev and several guards approached them, Demitri was wearing a casual white shirt and pants along with a smile but his guards were still in full armour, their faces hidden.

"Your Majesty, a fine castle you have here, I hope you do not object to me touring the grounds?" Demitri gave a respectful nod to Leon as turned to the King.

"No not at all. This is my long time friend Leon, he's here visiting", The King said as he gestured to Leon.

"A pleasure", Demitri said as he offered his hand.

"Likewise", Leon replied bluntly as he returned the gesture. Demitri's eyes narrowed ever so slightly before returning to being impassive.

"Well, a good afternoon to the both of you", Demitri said cheerily as he led his entourage away. Leon watched as they rounded the same corner they had before disappearing.

"Let's get to your study", Leon said impatiently, his irritation was quite evident as he patted his pocket again. He walked off with the King in tow, his pace having become more brisk.

The mildly musty air of the kings study put Leon at ease, even if only slightly. Row after row of literature on a million subjects lined the cavernous interior of the study. A simple wooden writing bureau and two seats were located in the centre of the room. Portraits of the king's precursors lined the walls at regular intervals between the colossal bookshelves. It was quite in here and the barely lit interior made Leon feel a little better having his meeting in here.

King Mickey led the way to the writing bureau and planted himself in one of the hard-wood chairs lined with plush red cushion. "I get the impression this is more urgent than some loose brickwork Leon, what's going on?" the king asked as Leon sat in the other chair.

Leon looked around, as if searching for any hidden on-lookers. "Is this room secure, your majesty?" Leon asked as he reached into his inner coat pocket.

"The most secure in the palace, no-one comes in here but me, the Queen and a few select others". The King felt a slight apprehension; Leon was worried about security for some reason and this alone concerned the King.

Leon pulled a small optical disk from his inner pocket and placed it onto the desk in front of the King, who regarded it for a moment before turning to Leon with a puzzled expression. "It's a data disk", the King said finally. He tentatively reached towards it, small and unassuming and the faint light of the study playing across its surface. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand, there was a scrawled message on the underside.

"I don't know who's listening in on us, so just play along. Put this data disk in the reader and discuss structural stuff as you watch it, you'll see why all the covert stuff after it's finished"

The King looked up at Leon who smiled faintly and nodded. The King turned in his seat and lifted a compartment on the bureau revealing a disguised computer monitor and keypad. He fed the disk into the side of the monitor and touched a few keys on the pad, he laughed as he chastised Leon for not bringing something as dangerous as this until now to his attention. The screen flickered to life and after a few seconds changed from the standard pastel blue to a black box with some text. In stark white lettering were the words: Security recording, orbital feeds and ground cameras 1 through 12K. The information was dated three days ago. _The battle between the Nobody and Imperium fleets? _ The King turned to Leon and he nodded slowly.

"Let's see just what's wrong with that rickety old place", the King said as casually as he could manage as he pressed the glowing Play button.

**Brotherhood Titan Class Battle Cruiser: Goliath, **

**In orbit around Hollow Bastion's moon **

**1 Week Ago:**

Commodore Karchev gritted his teeth and slammed his hands on the guard rail around his post as the ship shook from another direct hit, the energy shields were holding but for how much longer he did not know. He watched as the bridge crew held on to their respective consoles and the runners did their best not to fall over with the constant shuddering the ship was experiencing. The star field in Karchev's view-screen was a chaotic tapestry of colour as his fleet exchanged fire with the Nobody fleet and a plethora of explosions were erupting on both sides of the field, smearing the stars with brilliant, if only momentary, bursts of colour.

Everything had gone as standard doctrine had dictated. The fleet had emerged and quickly formed into an offensive wedge and moved into optimal firing range before peppering the Nobody fleet with rounds from their rail cannons and heavy energy lasers. The missile cruisers had unleashed a torrent of armour piercing torpedoes directed straight at the bulk of their formation and the carriers had unleashed their fighter and bomber squadrons and were awaiting engagement orders. A text-book start to the battle for certain.

Then everything had gone to hell. The Nobody fleet, despite having nearly ten percent of their number obliterated by the initial salvos, had quickly reformed around the largest ship, which Karchev guessed was the command vessel. They were a lot faster than their size belied and they began returning fire and their own energy weapons which easily out-ranged the Imperium fleets own and several frontline ships were struck, causing shields to buckle and fires ripped through the hulls. Requests for new orders began bombarding the internal communication network.

Emergency re-deployment was out of the question at this time and Karchev knew it. So the order for the fleet to close in with their targets and engage them at point blank range was issued instead. With a flare of engines, the fleets sped towards each other, the rapidly diminishing space between them filled with energy discharges and explosions and each fleet was leaving a trail of dead or disabled ships in its wake as they came into close fire range.

The Imperium ships were designed to excel at either close or distant combat and their smaller weapon emplacements began unloading round after round of brutal firepower into the Nobody vessels. The fighters and bombers broke away from their carriers and began weaving through the larger ships and picking out weapon emplacements and any other vital areas that were identified by their mother ships. Smaller Nobody ships emerged from the undersides of some of the larger vessels and small, vicious dogfights soon erupted amidst the withering exchange of fire between the larger vessels.

Karchev knew they had the advantage at close quarters; his fleet had been especially trained in close quarter engagements and watched with a satisfied smile as his ships expertly executed the complex manoeuvres with ease. Whenever an Imperium ship had its shields or their hull compromised, another vessel would interject between the wounded ship and its attacker and unleash a punishing broadside into the attacker, giving the stricken ship an opportunity to recover or get to safety.

The bombers expertly weaved between the waves of fire and unleashed their payloads, destroying weapon emplacements and bridge areas before returning to their carriers to reload. All the while, squadrons of elite fighters were keeping the bombers safe from enemy fighter groups trying to pick off the slower bombers.

Karchev noted that the battle was going in their favour now with a rare smile. The Nobody fleet was confused and disorganised. They clumsily tried to manoeuvre around each other and were just presenting better targets for the fleet's gunners. The fire from their ships was not as effective at close range and the reports of retreating or damaged ships subsided dramatically, much to Karchev's relief.

Then other reports started filtering through from other ships in Karchev's battle group. They were being boarded. Attackers were appearing aboard the ships in his fleet and attacking the crew and sabotaging vital systems. Internal security units were hard pressed to contain them as they were seemingly appearing from no-where and then disappearing again.

Karchev sent a fleet wide alert, ordering all security teams to defend vital ship components such as the bridge and engine room. All non-essential personnel were to immediately arm themselves and join the defence of the ship. Karchev stared at the Nobody command ship.

"Nice try alien scum, but we're a bit tougher than that".

**Nobody command vessel, Dreadnought**

**In orbit around Hollow Bastion's moon **

**1 Week Ago:**

Seryx stared out at the enemy fleet before him and sighed deeply. They said that Nobodies could not really feel emotion, was exasperation an emotion? His brilliant white hair cascaded over his shoulders and his impassive features and almost blended with the kimono-like white with black trim uniform he wore. A single adornment hung around his neck and reflected the energy exchange that was going on beyond his view screen. The symbol of the Nobodies, gifted to him by the Organisation's leader.

Why were they here? What did this have to do with them? Seryx was perplexed (was that an emotion again?) He brushed his hair aside and adjusted the symbol of his rank. Though he had not been inducted into Organisation XIII's ranks before it's demise, much to his relief (if we were capable of such a thing), he was the closest you could come to them. This meant after their destruction, command of the Nobodies fell to him and him alone.

He watched as another of the ships in his command exploded in a brilliant shower of light and debris. He offered a silent goodbye to his brothers that had been aboard that ship. May they finally find their hearts and know peace in the next life. He turned to watch the various Nobodies on the bridge as they operated controls in silence. Except, that was technically untrue: though a Nobody did not communicate at an audible level, they had a mental link to each other that provided a medium as good as spoken speech, if not better.

Currently, the mental web that linked the Nobody fleet together was awash with the sounds of the dying and the confusion of battle. It was giving Seryx a headache. He was considered something of an oddity among the Nobodies (at least the ones that could formulate opinions) in that he was one of the few that retained their human appearance beyond Organisation XIII's ranks. This came with all of the drawbacks, including headaches, but Seryx liked the human form and considered it to be the pinnacle of physical beauty.

He sent his orders along the web of thought to his fleet that they were to begin their boarding actions now, as to stall the enemy fleet from reaching Hollow Bastion below them and they were to intercept any vessels that attempted to break through and get to the surface of the world.

They had a mission to do on the ground and Hollow Bastion's inhabitants were going to prove problematic enough without assistance from this new enemy. This had been the last known location of Ansem's lab and there was something in his computer that Seryx, no, the entire Nobody race needed before it was too late. He stared out again at the battle before him and felt a ripple of fear in the back of his mind or at least that is what it felt like.

He heard gentle footfalls behind him and then halt a little ways behind him. _What ails you Seryx? _Seryx felt the almost soothing words of his second in command wash across the mental link between them and it was like a healing balm to his tired and beaten mind. He turned and offered a smile to her, brushing his hair aside again.

Yulxia, like Seryx, was one of the few Nobodies that had retained her human form and Seryx secretly was thankful for this. Her form was one the most pleasing to his eyes in all existence. Her lithe figure was done no justice by the uniform she wore, but Seryx could but imagine it's near perfection. Her face, small and angular belonged in a fresco depicting heaven and its angels back on their original home world and her thin, straight raven hair framed it for completion.

She was beautiful and she was partly the reason that Seryx had always argued that what Nobodies felt was emotion and not some poor emulation. He had known her for a long time and they had seen and been through much together, and over time Seryx had developed, what he had been reliably informed was known as a 'love' towards her. Seryx never told her this though. Yulxia was firmly of the opinion that Nobodies were incapable of emotion and feelings and that any who believed otherwise were weak and foolish, hence her major disagreement with Axel and her prompt ejection from Organisation XIII.

Seryx turned back to the battle before him. _I fear that I must go to the surface and personally lead the retrieval of Ansem's data files. _He winced as another Nobody ship exploded and was thankful that Yulxia could only see the back of his head. He turned to her again, his face a stone mask of indifference. _The defenders on the planet below will prove too much for our soldiers. _He began walking towards her, for a moment, he could have sworn that a slight worry crossed her face, but thought better of it. _You are to command the fleet in my absence_. He placed a hand on her bare shoulder and felt a tingle of something (excitement, pleasure?) course up his arm and it took all his restraint to keep it from his face.

_As you wish._ She replied evenly and moved to where Seryx stood moments before.

"Yulxia, be careful", Seryx spoke aloud. He looked at her back longingly for a moment before turning to leave for his grim mission. He smiled to himself as Yulxia remained silent, directing the Nobodies around her.

"You too Seryx", her voice, as soothing and angelic as it was when rarely spoken as it was in his mind, made Seyx smile even wider as he made his way of off the bridge and to his waiting retinue of Berserkers.

**Surface of Hollow bastion**

**1 Week Ago:**

Leon aptly dodged another clumsy blow from his attacker and returned a shot from his gunblade into the creature's mid-section and it collapsed, melting away into nothingness. He stood quickly and took stock of the immediate situation. It was bad. Nobodies were appearing everywhere and Leon and the other members of the Hollow Bastion Defence Committee (officially established about five minutes ago) were finding it increasingly difficult to stem the seemingly endless tide of attackers. Nobodies of every rank and size and some never seen before were raining down on Hollow Bastion like caustic rain.

Leon spun and raised his gunblade just in time to deflect the blow of a katana being wielded by one of the elite samurai-like Nobodies. The creature and Leon circled each other, each taking measured footsteps and sizing his opponent up, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Before the creature could act, it was bowled over by two smaller Nobodies that had been smashed aside by an immense sword. Leon looked up and nodded as Cloud slowly moved to the pile of enemies and cleaved through them with his Buster sword before returning the nod and moving on to another confrontation

A city wide melee had erupted as the Nobodies appeared and began making their way towards Ansem's old laboratory. Most of them were appearing in the town and either making their way through the Bailey or they were massing in an open plain just beyond the lab, held at bay by the towns defence network and its resolute defenders, but then the tide began moving towards the lab and it appeared as though they would be overwhelmed. Leon and the others, aided by whoever could wield a weapon and were willing, were trying to contain the Nobodies but were failing miserably as more and more kept appearing.

Then something completely un-expected happened. As Leon and the other defenders stood resolute, dug in among the rubble of the outer perimeter of the lab and the Bailey, explosions began tearing through the Nobody ranks. Their broken bodies were flung through the air like rag-dolls before landing and melting away. The air was filled with the sound of high calibre weapons being discharged and Nobodies began falling like wheat before a storm.

Armoured figures had appeared along the hillside that crested the open plain beside the lab and began pouring fire into the Nobodies amassed below them. Many more appeared among the upper levels of the ruined Bailey and took up firing positions among the shocked inhabitants of Hollow Bastion. Their stone grey armour which covered most of their torso and limbs blended with the stonework of the rubble they were ensconced in. Their faces were all hidden under fully enclosed helmets and environmental masks. Mirror black eye pieces were the only indication that someone was within the armour.

The Nobodies began to split up and many started towards the line of figures on the hillside. Nobodies were mown down by the dozen as they attempted to scale the slope and close on their attackers. The larger and better protected ones were gaining ground until the explosions began again, throwing them contemptuously down the hillside again. What appeared behind the armoured figures drew worried gasps and cries from the Hollow Bastion inhabitants.

Massive bipedal machines stomped into view and began emptying much greater and much more devastating firepower into the Nobodies before them. Each one stood almost eighty meters in height and had a set of limbs like a human, but their arms ended in various weapons that were currently blazing death at the Nobodies. They strode through the fire and smoke like terrible avatars scanning for new targets.

Leon looked on in awe at the newcomers. He did not notice one the armoured figures approach him to his side. Leon turned and raised his gunblade at the armoured figure, who promptly shouldered his assault rifle and spread his arms either side of him, a peaceful gesture that caused Leon to lower his gunblade, but only slightly.

"You in charge here?" the voice was modulated by the breathing apparatus covering his face, but Leon understood every word.

He nodded and lowered the gunblade a little more. "The name's Leon, who are you and what do you want?" Leon knew he was not being too pleasant but this did not concern him right now.

"Point Commander Adrian Chase, 2nd Mobile Infantry Division", the armoured figure shouted over the staccato of gunfire coming from all around them. "We're here to help".


	5. Chapter 5

**War Unending**

**Chapter 5: A Cursed Existence**

**Disney Castle**

**4 days ago:**

King Mickey watched intently as the events on his screen played out before him. His small eyes reflected the kaleidoscope of colour as he watched. The footage that was captured by Hollow Bastion's defence grid, though slightly grainy and patchy in places was quite adequate in conveying the reasoning behind Leon's request for privacy and his seemingly unnecessary covert actions upon arrival.

The first half of the feed had shown a brutal space battle between the Nobody and Imperium fleets. Space was filled with a plethora of colour as ships exploded and mass energy weapons exchanged broadsides. The second half of the feed was an erratic number of different camera feeds from the surface of the world. There was intense hand to hand combat throughout Hollow Bastion as Leon, Yuffie, Cloud and the others, aided by any able bodied civilians, desperately fought back against the seemingly endless tide of Nobodies making their way planet wards.

The Imperium's military capabilities were quite formidable as proven by their actions on the ground and in space. They possessed a level of technological efficiency that had clearly been forced forward by constant warfare among themselves and against others. Their ground forces displayed a level of training that would put most other peoples 'elite' combat troops to shame. Despite overwhelming enemy numbers, they countered with smart thinking and brutally effective fire-traps.

The King watched as one feed showed Leon among the rubble of the Bailey, conversing with an individual whom King Mickey assumed was in command of the relief forces. Though his armour was identical to the others, his shoulder guards were trimmed red and he appeared to carry more gear than the regular infantry. The camera panned back as more Imperium troops rushed into firing positions around Leon and his counter-part. The video feed ended there.

The King quietly reached for one of the draws and began fishing around for a pen and a scrap of paper. He retrieved them and quickly scribbled down a message before sliding the scrap of paper over to Leon. Leon placed his hand over the scrap of paper and slid it into his palm before raising it to eye level. The paper read: Is there any more footage?

Leon nodded his head slowly before reaching into his pocket and retrieving another optical disk. He reached over to the computer and swapped the disks over. "Well, as you can see your Majesty, it's quite severe, but it got worse the deeper we got", Leon said as evenly as he could manage, but there was a hint of fear in his voice. The King had known Leon for a long time and had never known him to be afraid of anything; this almost made him not want to view the contents of the second disk. The screen changed again to another camera feed on the surface of Hollow Bastion.

**Surface of Hollow bastion**

**1 Week Ago:**

Smoke and debris filled air along with gunfire and explosions, the sights and sound of battle was all around Leon. He watched the thin line of armoured figures and bipedal tanks on the hillside slowly advance backwards away from the Nobodies. Their attack had been devastating, but more and more Nobodies were appearing, pushing them back, though they paid for each inch of ground with another dozen corpses of their own.

Several massive shadows appeared above the hillside as five troop transports came into hovering position just behind the line of valiant Imperium troops. Their own weapons adding to the ground units to buy the retreating line enough time to board the transports via the rapidly descending ingress ramps. Once the last bipedal tank was aboard, the transports lifted away from the ground with a roar of engines and a blast of heat that sent many Nobodies tumbling down the hill they had just scaled. The transports flew overhead and Leon tracked them as far as Ansem's Lab before they disappeared from sight.

The armoured figure that had approached Leon moments ago was still stood before him, patiently waiting for Leon to acknowledge his presence. "Point Commander Adrian Chase, 2nd Mobile Infantry Division" the figure shouted again over the gunfire coming from his associates. "We're here on behalf of the Imperium of Mankind to help in the defence of this world against the Nobody threat". The figure approached closer, his appearance was even more menacing up-close. The thick ballistic armour he wore was pock-marked and scratched in many places and there was what Leon guessed were kill marking engraved on the helmet that helped disguise the identity of this individual.

Imperium of Mankind? King Mickey had mentioned them months ago in passing but all that Leon knew was that they were a massive empire from a far away part of the galaxy that had made contact peacefully. Now they were here, right before Leon's eyes with guns blazing and as much as he hated to admit it, they were saving his behind too. Leon had resumed his defensive stance. What was he supposed to do? One minute he and his closest friends and people whose lives he was sworn to defend were fighting a loosing battle against a numberless foe that was trying to take what was not theirs and then the next minute, another force had appeared and began effortlessly destroying the Nobodies.

This knew enemy/ally had superior technology and training compared to the armed volunteers of Hollow Bastion. Leon was torn over what to do. They had indeed helped in stemming the Nobody tide, but they also outnumbered and outgunned Leon's own defenders, if these Imperium soldiers decided to turn on them; it would be a short and bloody conflict. But this scenario made no sense, if they had wanted to destroy Leon and his friends they would have done it by now. They had weapons that allowed them to fight at a distance and had no need to soil their hands in close combat, although they were quite able to fight up close as Leon had seen in some places.

There was a chiming from a device on the armoured figures belt. "Excuse me a moment", Commander Chase pulled a small communicator from one of the holsters on his utility belt and placed it in front of his face. There was a hiss of static and then a voice. Commander Chase was conversing with someone and it sounded severe. "Okay, hold your ground where you are trooper, reinforcements are en-route". Chase finally said and replaced the communicator on his belt before turning to Leon.

"How did you know they would be here?" Leon finally managed. His gunblade was holstered, no sense in being rude to his saviours any more.

"Our intelligence has been tracking their fleet movements for a while and they finally came to halt in orbit above this world a few days ago. We landed ground troops here yesterday and created a perimeter around any inhabited areas of this world, it just so happens that they're attacking here". Commander Chase beckoned for Leon to follow him as more Imperium soldiers moved into firing positions where they had stood seconds ago.

Chase led Leon through the rubble to a hastily erected command post that was hidden among the ruins of the Bailey, minutes away from where the combined Imperium and Hollow Bastion defenders were dug in. An old courtyard was severing as the Imperium's forward base. Its crumbling walls were host to maps and charts of the local area and portable generators had been hidden away in any niches or alcoves that were available.

Support personnel were operating a variety of communication and scanning devices in the centre of the courtyard. Monitors played host to video communication feeds and data arrays while hurried looking radio operators were distributing orders over the communication network and redirecting necessary personnel and reinforcements. There were armed guards posted around the ramparts above the courtyard, their rifles seemingly modified for longer range as far as Leon could tell.

A full field medical centre had been positioned in a former Bailey entryway. A large number of benches and beds were arrayed in two rows along either wall. Portable medical apparatus was currently arrayed in a seemingly hap-hazard way around the confines of the tent that was overarching the area of ruins they were using. Medics were already busy filing back forth, carrying wounded to the waiting doctors and nurses. Leon noted, quite worryingly, that most of the wounded were the inhabitants of Hollow Bastion, but he was quickly assured that they would be well looked after.

Commander Chase sat at one of the stations that was free of any equipment and began unfastening his helmet. Leon instinctively took a step back as the helmet and then the environmental mask was removed, each carefully placed on the steel table before Chase, before he turned to Leon.

He was human, or at least he looked human. His face was pale and scarred in places but he was otherwise normal in appearance. He was probably no older than Leon was and there was the same self-assured look about him that Leon had been informed he had about him. Chase ran a gloved hand over his shaven head before giving a half grin to Leon.

"You look like you were expecting me to have squid for a head or something, what, never seen another human around here?" Chase let out a gruff chuckle as he stood back up and went over to another nearby table that did have some equipment on it; a radio transceiver. He began checking the controls before seating himself in front of it. Leon came over to stand beside him as Chase placed a set of headphones over his ears and began talking it a microphone feed. "This is Point Commander Chase to Commodore Karchev, please acknowledge". Chase repeated this several times before a response came back over the transceiver.

"This is Karchev", the voice was heavily accented and sounded rather annoyed.

"What's the situation up there?" Chase asked, unfazed by the Commodore's tone.

"We have them pinned in place in high orbit, but they are very defensive about us getting near the planet and keep sending boarding parties onto our vessels, we're kind of pinned ourselves", there was the sound of explosions and high energy discharge being picked up by the audio, things sounded intense up there. "Have you eliminated the ground threats yet?" Karchev asked almost pointedly.

"Negative, enemy numbers are far greater than originally anticipated, we are co-ordinating with the natives of the world and have bulk of the enemy forces pinned down, but there numbers keep growing", Chase received a clipboard from a rather hurried looking aide and read it while Karchev spoke.

"Where is General Kal'El? Why has he not smashed the Nobodies himself?" Karchev sounded even angrier than before.

"He has stationed himself at the suspected enemy target area with my Storm Trooper squads", Chase replied as he motioned the aide back over and returned the clipboard to him, the aide promptly hurried over to another console. "I have pressing matters on the ground, keep my station informed of progress your making, Chase out", he let out a deep sigh as he replaced the headphones and leant back in his chair.

"General Kal'El?" Leon was getting anxious; he needed to be back out there with the others.

"Yeah, like I said, I'm only Point Commander, the General is at the area we suspect the Nobodies are attempting to reach", Chase stood up and returned to his gear and began replacing it on his head and face. He turned back to Leon, fully armoured again. "Do you have an idea what could be in that area that the Nobodies are seeking?" Chase led the way to the back of the command post and pointed at Ansem's laboratory, not far from there current position.

Leon remained silent. How much did these people know and what would be a good idea to mention without revealing too much? Leon puzzled over what was actually of any use in the labs and the only conclusion he could reach was that there was something on the computer that the Nobodies wanted. But what could it possibly be, as far as Leon knew, it was information regarding Kingdom Hearts and Heartless research, what could they possibly want with that?

"There's a database of research carried out by some scientist located at the heart of the building", Leon finally said.

"I see", Chase said slowly, before reaching for his communicator on his hip. "Chase to command squad, sit rep" Chase said into the communicator. There was a muffled reply that Leon couldn't quite make out and Chase only nodded before replacing the communicator. "Well, something screwy is going on, the Nobodies are digging in themselves and it's turning into a stale mate", Chase sounded confused. This had not been what he had expected them to do at all.

"Leon!" There was a high pitched shout from the other end of the command post and both Leon and Chase spun towards the source of this intrusion. It was Yuffie. She hurried over to Leon aptly dodging around the confused personnel and equipment to stop in front of Leon. "Leon, the Nobodies have left the town, they are in the field outside Ansem's place!"

"Ansem?" Chase turned the name over in his mouth. "You know who that building belongs to?" Chase asked Yuffie.

"Yeah, it's-hey!" Yuffie slapped the Commander across his face, displacing the re-breather slightly. Leon stared at Yuffie in astonishment as the Commander struggled to re-align his re-breather. "Keep your eyes where they belong!" Yuffie began pouting.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Chase sounded more hurt than offended. How the hell did she know what I was staring at? That cute little body, those shapely legs, those sumptuous curves had drawn his eyes as he asked the newcomer a question. Chase was a military man and as such, female company was a rarity to cherish when received.

"Errr..." as Leon searched for something to say there was a flash of blinding light from the direction of Ansem's Lab. Everyone in the commander turned to see several dozen hulking figures disappear into the dark confines of the entrance to the lab. Chase cursed as he reached for his communicator and began yelling orders into it.

"Berserkers, lots of 'em", Leon said as he began running towards where pathway leading to the lab began. Chase was following close behind, his assault rifle in his hands. "Yuffie! Get Cloud and the others and meet us over there!" Leon shouted back over his shoulder as he ran towards the lab.

"I hope this General Kal'El came prepared for a fight", Leon said, his gunblade now in hand. Chase merely grinned.

Seryx led his hulking retinue down the shadowed and dank corridors of Ansem's former lab. The walls had collapsed in places and pipe work was protruding from the walls like skeletal fingers reaching for something. Seryx could not image that it had always looked like this and had simply fallen into a sate of disrepair over time; he just hoped that the computer at the heart of the building was still intact after all this time. A lot of Nobodies were dying so that Seryx had enough time to retrieve the data he hoped was here, no, had to be here.

Few people truly understood the creation process of a Nobody or their not so distant cousins, the Heartless. Fewer still understood it in any great detail. Seryx had been let privy to many of the secrets of Organisation XIII before their destruction at the hands of the hated Sora and what he had learned troubled him greatly. It had troubled him so much so that it led him to question his very being and the concept of existence as a whole. This thinking led him to where he was now, on the verge of saving his entire species.

They were dying. The entire Nobody species was slowly but surely dying out. This was not because of some plague, a genetic disorder or any conventional reason for the destruction of life; rather, it was simply because of what they were. A race born under a damned star, doomed to die off with little or no hope of salvation, all except for what was contained on Ansem's computer and what Seryx desperately seeks. The thought of Yulxia dying and leaving him alone for the rest of his contrived existence was almost too much to bear at times. Of course, no-one save Seryx knew of the impending cataclysm beyond Organisation XIII's ranks.

When a living being is transformed into a Heartless, if the being was strong of mind, that person's mind and body lived on as a separate entity, devoid of any emotion that the heart contained. At least, that was what the few who claimed to understand the relation between the Heartless and Nobodies had theorised. It was of course, completely incorrect. Seryx had learned, much to his reluctance, the true relation of the Heartless and the Nobodies.

No matter the mental fortitude of the being that is transformed into a Heartless, a Nobody is created. Saying that only the strong produced a Nobody was egotistical nonsense. When a heart breaks free of the body it belonged to, a Heartless appears where the victim was and scampers away to do whatever a Heartless does, but much later the remains of the body and mind coalesce into a Nobody and they too then begin acting independently. When Seryx learned this, his first question was: then why are there many more Heartless than there are us? The truth was quite horrifying.

Essentially, a sentient being is composed of its mind, body and heart, each one is designed to balance the other out and thus we exist as we do. However, if one these elements is suddenly ripped away, what entails? A Nobody is essentially the remains of a living being without its heart, governed by its mind alone. However, when the remains form into a Nobody, the mind and body go into a form of shock. This is the mind essentially overflowing and causing the body to wither and die at a terrifying rate. The process causes the Nobody indescribable agony before killing it. The process was compared to a child dying at birth, leaving Seryx nauseated and cold.

Some survive this ordeal but their minds are so ravaged by the pain that they become akin to animals. Some luckier Nobodies retain basic intelligence from their previous existence and can walk normally and converse on a basic level. Very few still are fortunate enough to keep their physical forms and save from minute differences in hair and eye colouring, resemble their original selves. But then Seryx learned more about their 'condition'. Without a heart, they supposedly had no emotion, some argued against this, most did not care, simply content to exist.

But the stakes were higher than: we don't need emotion, we are superior beings. Many took this adage as gospel truth and were content to be free of the bindings of the heart. Seryx learned that without a heart, the Nobodies that survived creation were doomed to becoming autonomous as the remnants of the heart gradually faded away. Without emotion and feelings, a Nobody became a machine-like being that lost its remaining will and needed to be controlled by others, then one day that Nobody's mind would finally overflow and kill it in much the same way as it did many of the newly born. This fate awaited every single Nobody in existence and Seryx had nearly taken his own life when he learned this.

**Unknown World**

**10 years ago**

Seryx stood in shock, his books and other materials lying at his feet. "Ridiculous… that can't be true, you're lying!" his voice was charged with venom and shock. "Why? Why would you say something like that!" Seryx took a shaky step away from the robed figure before him. His hands were clumsily searching for something to support him. The room he was in was a lab, the candle light played on the stone walls, creating monstrous shadows of Seryx and his teacher.

"Don't act surprised. Drop the emotional response, it doesn't suit you", the robed figure pointed at him. His voice was cold and harsh. "You wanted to learn the truth behind our existence, I taught you it", the robed figure turned and shuffled over to a large plush ochre chair and his robe billowed out around his as he sat. Seryx was trembling and his hands found nothing to steady him as he fell backwards and sat stock still for several moments. The master's words were playing in his head over and over again and he wished he could silence them.

"But… it's not possible, we don't need the heart to live", Seryx was trying to rally his thoughts and was repeating his previous lessons to himself as he stood back up slowly. The master simply shook his head and turned to look out of the window the pouring rain in silence. Seryx screamed and ran from the laboratory, throwing open the heavy wooden door and running into the darkness of the stone work corridors.

He ran and ran, tears streaming from his eyes. He did not know why he running or why he screamed or why he was reacting this way. He tore past other initiates in the corridors and almost tripped over several Dusk as they performed their patrol over the castle's interior. He turned and ran blindly, he could not rally his thoughts and his mind was racing, the master's words still replaying over and again, sounding more and more like a death sentence the more he heard them.

Seryx ran out onto a massive balcony that overlooked the beautiful evergreen forest that surrounded the castle laboratory. The rain was pouring down hard and fast and the stonework was wet and slippery. He stopped and fell to his knees, gazing up at the sky, his white hair was matted and his robes were sodden. He screamed in defiance at the sky as the rain continued to pour down on him. He rocked forwards and began to weep, smashing his fists into the stone floor until they cracked and bled.

"Why us, what did we do, we didn't ask for this life!" he spat the words in-between ragged breathes, he was hoarse from the screaming. He stood up and made his way to the raised stone edging and slowly climbed on top of it. Seryx stared down at the ground below him, he had no doubt a fall would kill him from this height. The trees waved in the slight breeze, almost beckoning him downward. He raised his face skywards again. "I won't become extinct because of this cursed existence, I'll take my own life and I'll die on my own terms!" his back arched as he cried out in fury. He edged closer to the precipice before him

"Wait". A voice cut through the rain behind Seryx and he turned his head to see the source of the voice. Standing in the middle of the balcony, her own robes damp and her hair matted to her impassive face, was Yulxia. She stared at Seryx and slowly raised her arms before her and began walking towards him. Seryx stared at her, transfixed by her gaze. She placed a hand on his thigh and slowly guided him down.

"I can't Yulxia, please let me die with some dignity", Seryx said in-between ragged sobs; his shoulders heaved and felt leaden. Yulxia did not speak as she wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her head in his chest. The feeling of warmth she generated cut through the anxiety and he slowly began to calm down. He looked down at her and felt a pang of something from his 'heart'. He cried out and tried to turn away and scramble back up the small wall, but her tenacious grip would not break and all he succeeded in doing was turning in her embrace.

"Please Seryx, I know not what troubles you, but it is not worth loosing your life", her words were simple but were a blade of radiance that cut the haze of misery that had clouded his mind. Seryx collapsed forward out of exhaustion. He could not see the smile on her face as she knelt in front of him and held him close to her. "You are a great man Seryx, do not waste your life". She hugged him closer and for the first time in Seryx's second life, he felt safe.

"I won't let us fade away, I swear it", he uttered before surrendering to unconsciousness. Yulxia simply smiled as the rain continued to fall upon them.

**Surface of Hollow bastion**

**1 Week Ago:**

Seryx was quickly bought back to the present as a hail of gunfire stitched along the wall beside him, his Berserkers formed around him like a protective shield with a single mental order. One fell forwards; its head exploding under another barrage of fire, his massive axe collapsed to land beside him. Seryx furiously scanned the corridor ahead and spotted several glowing pairs of eyes among a hastily erected barricade of stone blocks and pipes. He ordered the Berserkers towards the barricade at all haste. The gunfire intensified and several more of his loyal followers were mown down. They reached the barricade in a silent wave of giant bodies and Seryx got to look at the face of their enemy.

They were hulking armoured figures clutching weapons unfamiliar to him. At first they seemed to be machines but Seryx noticed the breathing equipment hiding their faces and the all too organic movements they made. Their ebon carapace armour and helms coupled with the menacing red glow of their visors were clearly designed to intimidate their foes, but his Berserkers were not so easily frightened.

With sweeps of their great axes, the barricade was smashed aside and several of the figures were thrown backwards. The others began falling back, firing into the mass of armoured bodies before them. His Berserkers smashed the ones they could reach with devastating blows from their axes, but most of them escaped up the corridor leaving carnage in their wake.

Seryx ordered them onward. They were close and he could feel it. The lab was logical in its layout, in theory the corridors should terminate in the same place and that was the ante-room to the main lab area. Seryx hurried to the forefront of the Berserkers as they rounded a corner and came to a large open room with a chaotic lattice of pipes interwoven in the ceiling. There was a large ornate double door on the opposite wall and Seryx noted with a smile as the Berserkers he had sent the other way emerged from the opposite corridor.

A single figure stood before the double doors. Seryx was perplexed by the appearance of this individual. He was human, tall and quite muscular but wore no armour, unlike the others they had just encountered. He wore a close fitting suit of black material and a black cape was draped over his shoulders. A single adornment was on his chest, a five sided golden shape with a golden 'S' located at its centre. He was currently looking towards the ground with his eyes closed and his arms folded. One of his black booted feet was tapping rhythmically on the stone floor.

Seryx advanced towards the individual. "Whoever you are, I ask you to stand aside", he said calmly, his arm swept behind him towards the waiting Berserkers. "We have you outnumbered and I suggest that run and hide if want to live". The man looked up, brushing a stray lock of black hair from his square features. Seryx was struck by the perpetual sneer on the figures face as he first looked at Seryx, then the Berserkers and back at Seryx. There was a menace to his face as he stepped towards Seryx.

"I stand aside for no-one", the figure replied evenly, a glint appeared in his eye as he unfolded his arms. "My orders are to guard this facility from intruders at all costs", he looked around the room again before dashing towards Seryx at an impossible speed. Seryx barely had time to materialise his twin blades and block the mighty fist of his attacker. The sheer momentum of the attack almost pushed Seryx back into the opposite wall, leaving deep furrows in the ground. The figure stood before Seryx, his fist still on the blades. "You're fast, this should be good", the figure calmly walked away from Seryx before stopping in the middle of the room.

Seryx dropped into a fighting stance and dashed across the room to plant a blade in this insolent fools back. The Berserkers could not follow their master's movement as he cleared half the room in a near instant. The blade hit the cape but did not pierce flesh. The figure laughed as Seryx took a few steps back. "Your not one of them", Seryx declared as he circled his opponent, blades twirling slowly in each hand.

"That's right", the man turned and watched Seryx circle him and come to a halt in front of him, and the sneer was still on his face. "I am the last son of Krypton, Kal'El; General of the Imperium armies" Kal'El casually dropped into a ready stance and smiled. "Or you can call me Superman, like everyone else does".


	6. Chapter 6

**War Unending**

**Chapter 6: Worth so many lives.**

**King Mickey's Study**

**4 Days Ago:**

King Mickey silently leant back in his chair and sighed deeply, the creaking of the leather hide was the only sound in the room. He glanced at Leon who remained transfixed on the recording before him, one hand on his chin. King Mickey had watched the various feeds from the grounds beyond the main town of Hollow Bastion and the footage from within Ansem's Lab and felt an inner anxiety at what he was seeing. The king paused the playback and hurriedly wrote another note before passing it to Leon.

'I don't like the look of that General Kal'El. But I guess they saved our behinds by intervening. Does this footage contain any indication as to what the Nobodies want?

Leon quickly scooped up the note and his eyes scanned it quickly before he turned to Mickey and nodded. He scribbled down two words: Ansem's computer. He leaned towards the player and resumed the playback. The feed from the ante-room to Ansem's study un-froze and played out. For a brief instant, General Kal'El's eyes bore into the camera and King Mickey felt a deep chill course through him at the sight of those pitiless dark orbs.

**Surface of Hollow bastion**

**1 Week Ago:**

Seryx stalked around his opponent, holding his crescent shaped blades tightly as he watched his opponent closely. He had once again closed his eyes, still in a casual fighting stance as if mocking Seryx and the gravity of the situation. Seryx could not understand why his blades had not pierced this man's back, he was much stronger than his wiry frame betrayed and a blow of that calibre should have pierced solid steel, yet did nothing to this being.

"I told you, I stand aside for no-one", Kal'El said in a low tone, his eyes still closed. "You're strong, but there's a whole world of difference in our strengths", Kal'El clenched and un-clenched his fists several times before opening his eyes and staring straight at Seryx.

"My quarrel is not with you or your people, I merely wish to retrieve something from here and then we will leave", Seryx stopped circling and dropped into a ready stance, one blade either side of him. "We have no interest in a conflict with you". Kal'El's sneer merely deepened as he turned bodily towards Seryx.

Seryx took several steps away from his opponent, maintaining eye contact and silently gave the berserkers behind his opponent the mental order to charge into him while he was distracted. The berserkers that had stood relatively inert, suddenly sprang to life and charged towards their foe. Though they could not match Seryx for sheer speed they were still quite nimble despite their size and bulk. In one fluid motion, they raised their axes and closed the distance between them and Kal'El in two massive strides.

A dozen of them closed in first and swung their axes in unison at Kal'El, who made no indication that he had heard the attackers approach and simply continued staring straight at Seryx. The axes struck in unison for a combined blow which could carve through star ship armour with ease. What the berserkers lacked in speed they made up in raw strength and resilience, which made them ideal shock troops in Seryx' opinion. He had hand picked these particular berserkers to be his personal retinue based on their higher than average martial skills and they had often saved Seryx from an untimely demise. They also displayed a strong sense of loyalty towards Seryx and more than one had lost its life to come between Seryx and certain death.

Time seemed to slow as the dozen massive blades sailed through the air towards Kal'El's head and then faster than even Seryx could perceive, Kal'El raised his arms above head and intercepted all of the blades. The sheer momentum of the attacks caused his knees to buckle slightly and the sneer softened before he spun on the spot and threw their weapons aside with contemptuous ease. Kal'El raised himself of the ground and then sped into the midst of the berserker mass.

In one motion, Kal'El grabbed the axes of the two nearest berserkers and as though they weighed nothing in his grip, began smashing their previous owners to the ground. One of the berserkers weakly raised an arm to shield itself from the rain of blows but another swipe severed its arm and the axe continued into its head. The other berserkers wasted no time in closing with their opponent. Several fell to the ground as a thin red cutting beam shot from the eyes of their target and severed their legs at the knees. The doughty berserkers used their axes to drag themselves towards Kal'El as their brothers loped over them and closed with their enemy.

Seryx watched with abject fascination as Kal'El systematically destroyed all of his opponents with little or no effort. Seryx knew that the remaining berserkers would only hold him for a matter of moments and ordered the other half of his retinue to form a wall between Kal'El and the doorway to the study with the instruction that he was not to pass, no matter the cost. As Seryx made to leave he suspected this was the last he would see of his brave bodyguards and offered silent, but sincere thanks before quietly slipping through the doors into the waiting room.

Ansem's study was everything Seryx had imagined it would be. Shelves of books on a multitude of subjects adorned the walls and hung before him was a portrait of Ansem himself. His eyes were gazing at something beyond the painting's scope and he seemed slightly pained judging by his expression. The drab white walls and bottle green chequered carpet gave it a slightly more homely feel, but did not derive from the overall impression that this room was for study and little else. A simple wooden workbench was wedged between two of the book shelves, but there was nothing on it save a few old books and writing material and several diagrams of Heartless physiology were pinned above the desk

Seryx stared at the portrait again for a few moments. Seryx had never personally met Ansem, but had heard much about Ansem and it saddened him slightly that he would never get a chance now. To the left of the portrait was the doorway Seryx was searching for. It was the entrance to the inner labs. The intensifying sound of battle from outside the room made Seryx hurry towards the opposite doorway, he stopped for moment to look at Ansem's portrait again and then passed under the ornate archway into the waiting corridor.

The dimly lit corridor, bathed in the gentle green glow of the emergency lighting led to another archway that had faint natural light beyond it. Seryx hurried towards through the corridor and onto an L shaped gantry that overlooked a massive storage facility. The far end of the facility was open and overlooked what Seryx assumed was the mountain range beyond the town. Gigantic arrays of ruby coloured, man sized capsules were spread along the walls all the way to the open far end. The capsules were all currently empty and the machinery they were attached to appeared to be inert. Seryx hurried over to the doorway at the other end of the gantry, he was close now and he could feel it.

The private computer room of Ansem the Wise was not as awe inspiring as Seryx had imagined it would be, especially considering the data that was being stored here. A single console sat before a large bay window that overlooked the storage facility Seryx had just left behind and on the wall behind it was the actual mainframe for the entire lab complex. A single dark leather chair was sat before the console. The room was seemingly deserted as far as Seryx could tell which he was thankful for. It was now simply a case of locating the relevant data, removing it and beating a hasty retreat. He placed himself in the chair, elevated it slightly and began typing on the keypad before him.

**Radiant Garden Central Mainframe**

**Welcome User: Please enter search parameters enter here**

Seryx inputted several words into the search column: Ansem, Nobodies and Research Data. The computer hummed softly and a small hourglass icon appeared on the screen. Seryx impatiently tapped the side of the console and stared out of the window, wondering what the hundreds of capsules had once housed. The console emitted a beep which drew Seryx' attention and he read the warning that had now flashed up onto the screen:

**All data concerning subjects Ansem and Nobodies is deemed classified, level red. Seek administrative assistance. Please enter new search parameters enter here**

Seryx gritted his teeth as he furiously typed in any other keywords he could think of into the search parameter column. The computer continued to return either the same warning from before or that the data was missing or corrupted. Seryx slammed his fist onto the keyboard, willed himself to calm and tried again. Seryx returned to main screen and decided that an attempt to log in as Ansem was the next approach to take. The command took several long seconds to register and finally a blue log in box appeared.

**User: LordAnsem**

**Password:**

Seryx stared at the blank space where the password should be entered, almost willing the damn thing to appear of its own accord. Seryx tried typing several words that immediately came to mind, each meeting with failure and then a warning flashed up on screen over the log in box:

**Warning: 1 attempt remaining before secure system lock down.**

Seryx balled his fists and willed himself to remain calm again. He sat back in the chair and ran through his mind all of the information he had on Ansem the Wise. What would Ansem use as a password to secure his most secret files? What single word would he use to keep all but the most determined from his work? This was a gate to a whole world of information and somewhere within that world was the key to the survival of the entire Nobody race, but that world remained frustratingly beyond Seryx' reach. World? Seryx looked up and tentatively reached for the keypad once more.

**User: LordAnsem**

**Password: Earth**

**---------**

**Welcome Lord Ansem**.

Leon ran through the corridors of Ansem's lab with Yuffie and Adrian Chase in tow, each had their respective weapons drawn and ready. He could here the sounds of battle reverberating throughout the complex as heavy gunfire and the sounds of brutal melee intermingled into a cacophony of madness. There were broken bodies of several Imperium soldiers along with several of the berserkers along with them. Chase was radioing for medical teams to make their way here as soon as possible while doing his best to keep up with the others.

Leon continued to lead the way to the ante chamber of the inner lab but was bought to a sudden halt by the emergence of a single berserker that had appeared from one of the turnings of a T junction that was ahead of them. It turned its featureless head towards Leon and began loping towards them, its axe poised to strike. The thing appeared to be wounded as its stride was interrupted by the occasional limp. The creature broke into a half charge and swung its axe at Leon, who immediately rolled aside as Yuffie throw her weapon into the midsection of the creature, doubling it over, as Leon leapt behind it and stabbed his gunblade through its shoulder into its chest. The creature sagged forward and dropped its axe, without a second glance, the trio were immediately moving again.

They passed several Storm Trooper defensive positions that had been hastily erected to contain the berserkers. The walls around them and further down the corridors were scarred by gunfire and explosions. The Storm Troopers were re-grouping at these points to tend to their wounded and keep the berserkers from spreading from the inner lab and to prevent reinforcements arriving from outside. Leon passed several broken bodies of fallen berserkers, many displayed signs of having been shot or caught in explosions, but some appeared to have grievous blade wounds that Leon could not believe was caused by the Storm Troopers.

They rounded the final corner and came across a scene of carnage. The rounded ante chamber leading to the inner lab was filled with almost thirty dismembered and broken berserker corpses. In the middle of the room was a dark clad individual holding two of the berserker axes as though they weighed nothing in his grip. The figure turned to the group, a strange mix of contempt and satisfaction on his angular face. Chase stepped forward and saluted to the bloody avatar before him.

"General, we have the enemy locked in position on the ground and in orbit, although we are still unsure as to their objectives", Chase removed his helmet and glanced around the room. "Although its evident you have the situation here well in hand".

Kal'El dropped the axes either side of him and hovered over to Chase. "Hmph. They were a mild challenge, although I suspect their leader may still be here", he said motioning to the doorway that led to the inner lab.

"Orders sir?" Chase asked as he replaced his helmet.

"I'm going into orbit to assist the fleet, I'll leave this area to you", Kal'El landed on the ground and casually walked past Leon and Yuffie, who gave him a wide berth as he passed. He rounded the came they had just come from and was gone.

Yuffie prodded one of the berserker bodies with the tip of her foot and glanced around at the others. "Did he beat them all by himself!" Chase was not listening, as he was on the radio ordering his Storm Troopers to secure the remainder of the complex. Leon merely shrugged and bought his gunblade up to rest on his shoulder. Moments later, several Storm Troopers poured into the room and took up guard positions around the doorway.

"We're going in", Chase declared as he moved into position in front of the door and planted a heavy kick in their centre. They flew open and immediately, the Storm Troopers filed in and swept the room with their rifles. Leon and Yuffie followed Chase inside who immediately went towards the opposite doorway that led to the inner lab. Several of the armed guards remained in the study while the remainder followed Leon and Chase into the adjoining hallway. The emergency lighting bathed them all in its eerie green glow as they quietly stalked towards the open gantry ahead of them. Chase gave the order to stop a few yards from the mouth of the hallway and made several hand gestures to the other soldiers who immediately took up positions so to offer the best covering fire.

Chase motioned to Leon, Yuffie and two other guards to follow him onto the gantry. They emerged into the fading light that spilled in from the open end of the cavernous interior of the labs storage area. They could here the frenzied operation of a keyboard from the other side of the door that led to Ansem's computer room. Chase once again motioned to his guards to take up positions either side of the door and motioned for Leon and Yuffie to follow him. He crept up to the doorway and made a ready motion to everyone around him who returned affirmatives.

Just as Chase raised his rifle, there was an explosion of broken glass as a white clad figure leapt through viewing window and landed effortlessly on the ground below the lab. The figure peered up at the astonished group and broke into a sprint towards the open end of the storage area. Chase yelled orders to fire on the escapee and the two guards peppered the ground around the unknown man with bullets that could not seem to find their mark. The figure reached the end of the runway and then leapt out into the air, dropping from sight.

"He's dead, no way he could survive that fall, move in!" Chase shouted and shoulder barged the door of the computer room open. The guard swept their rifles around the room, but apart from the gentle humming of the computer itself and some glass fragments that had landed on the keypad the room was otherwise deserted. Chase removed his helmet as his radio began sounding. There was a hurried conversation and he turned to the others. "There retreating, the ground forces have disappeared and the fleet is breaking orbit as fast as it can, whatever they were doing, they've either done it or we beat them too bad to make it worthwhile hanging around".

Leon glanced at Yuffie and then at the computer as he walked over to it and typed a few commands into the keyboard. His eyes narrowed as a list of all the data that had been accessed recently scrolled onto the screen. Leon's insides went cold as the last entry scrolled up onto the screen:

**Data File A2766-Red// Theory relating to near limitless increase of Nobody potential following the successful realignment of subject N332 (subclass: Nobody) with subject N332-H (subclass: Heartless).**


	7. Chapter 7

**War Unending**

**Chapter 7: The Sword of Damocles**

**King Mickey's Study**

**4 Days Ago:**

Near limitless potential. How could three words hold so much gravity? They hung over the entire situation like the proverbial Damocles sword, waiting to fall and sunder the very ground they stood on and all who were in its shadow. King Mickey stared at and through the monitor, trying to sort what he had just born witness to into some kind of sense, The Radiant Garden security network was thorough in its recording of all the events that had transpired and with that bought the unneeded problem of there being too much to process at once.

King Mickey reached for the pen and another scrap of paper but retracted his arm slowly before sinking further into his chair with a creak of leather and an exasperated sigh. "Let me see if I get what I've just seen, Leon", King Mickey said aloud, ignoring Leon's look of alarm and silent plea to not speak out loud. "The Nobodies attack Hollow Bastion in what appears to be a random act of aggression and then the Imperium appears and full scale battle begins, right?" Leon nodded. The King continued, "then the, I'm guessing, leader of the Nobodies attacks Ansem's lab and steals massive amounts of research data concerning something that I'm pretty sure I know what it is but hope I'm wrong for the second or third time in my life?" Leon nodded again as he ejected the optical disk from the computer and returned it to his inner pocket.

"Your majesty" Leon began as he sunk into his own chair, "I don't know what was on that computer that warranted the sacrifice of that many Nobodies, but it must have been important for them and that means bad for us". Leon shrugged and glanced around the room. "Think the Imperium knows anything about it?" Leon added quietly.

King Mickey shook his head slowly. "I don't think so; I think they were just in pursuit of what they considered another enemy to their empire", King Mickey rubbed his chin slowly. "Did anyone apart from you see the list of files that were stolen?"

"No, I killed the monitor feed before anyone could see anything and then asked Tron to delete any record of what happened". Leon's eyes narrowed in thought, "but then the strangest thing happened, Tron said that he could do that, but it had triggered an encrypted message". King Mickey looked over at Leon with a puzzled expression. "The data that had been copied and stolen was incomplete and that the actual source of that data was still intact but was being guarded by, get this, Ansem himself!" King Mickey's eyes widened in shock at this news and he leapt up onto his feet.

"We need to go to Hollow Bastion! If it's just a program designed to look, think and act like Ansem, I can convince it to give us access to whatever it's guarding!" The King Said aloud to which Leon hurriedly tried to silence him, but the King continued on: "we can find out just what it is the Nobodies are doing!"

"Damn, keep your voice down", Leon whispered harshly. "Look, it's not as simple as that, I tried talking directly to the program itself but it said, and this was the real strange part, it would only speak to a certain three people". King Mickey barely listened to all three names and then made all haste for the gummi hangar, almost dragging Leon off of his feet, stopping only to tell Queen Minnie that he would away for a couple of days and to stall all the guests for the Universal Peace Festival. Things were indeed getting interesting again.

**Destiny Islands Mainland**

The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, the light reflecting off of the clear seas and causing the waves to appear more like the dunes of a vast desert. The archipelago that made up the destiny islands appeared more akin to a palm tree covered oasis amid the burning gold of the seas they sat in. The mainland was orbited by four smaller islands, three were occupied, one not. But the majority of the Destiny Islands populace was centred on Destiny itself, as the mainland was known.

Two large towns and several small villages made up Destiny, The larger town, Lands Fall was at the centre of the island while the other town of Stars Peak, was located at one of the islands edges making it a bustling port town. Both towns sported the basics; they each had schools, shopping promenades, housing districts and industrial areas. Lands Fall had a much larger industrial production capability, but Stars Peak made up for this by having a thriving fishing and importing industry.

The outlying villages were mostly farmsteads that were built across the plains surrounding the parent towns. They provided the Lands Fall and Stars Peak with food and produce they could not import from elsewhere. The simple but hardwearing architecture of the farmsteads was in stark comparison to the gleaming white stone and red brick buildings of Lands Fall and the harsher looking dark stone and steel constructions of Stars Peak. Though different in appearance and attitudes the two large towns and the farms formed an unlikely, but solid community.

The outer islands were home to the more wealthy, those that could afford their own island and the cost maintaining it. Each island had a large mansion at its centre with smaller out houses built around the main one. Each of the families that lived on the outer islands had a small army of servants and groundskeepers on retainer and housing them was more efficient than constantly travelling back and forth to the mainland. Though seemingly distant, the outer island families were no less respected and a part of the Destiny community than those who lived on the mainland.

No-one had ever attempted to build on the forth island properly, they claimed that the ground was too rocky and that the amount of actual good, flat building land was negligible at best. Although, the lack of proper building space did not deter the youth of the Destiny Islands from making it their second home, as was tradition for as long as anyone could remember. There were a several tree houses and scratch built shacks made from whatever washed up on the shores of the island and during the summer break they became the homes of whoever had built them during the shorter holidays and weekends.

There was an adult presence there in the form of a small pier-side house that served as a medical centre. The owner and his staff were barely out of their late teens, so no-one on the island considers them a 'true' adult. The families of the island goers are secretly thankful for the presence of the medical team, not only because they provide care in the unlikely event of an accident, but also to provide a watchful eye over the slightly more impetuous members of Destiny's youth.

**Destiny Islands Mainland**

**3 Days Ago:**

Sora. Was someone calling his name, was it just in his mind or was someone in his mind calling his name? Sora. Again, the voice was so familiar yet so strange to him. Why could he not see anything? His vision was darkness, but he only noticed now, were his eyes open, were they shut, what was happening? Almost immediately in answer something swam into focus, it was distorted and faint, like staring through a fish bowl. Sora was suddenly aware of himself again, he looked down at his feet, at each of hands in turn and then straight ahead at what had materialised before him.

"Sora", it was definitely a spoken voice now, still tantalisingly familiar and it was being spoken by the robed and hooded figure that stood a few meters ahead of Sora. The figure's face was hidden, a single distinguishing feature stood out from the ebon greatcoat that hid the person beneath it. It was a small silver chain that ended in heart wreathed in thorns. Familiarity hit Sora like a hammer blow as the hood fell back to reveal a face not too unlike his own.

"Roxas", Sora heard himself say. "What are you doing here?" Sora's arms spread in confusion. "And why are wearing that creepy hood?" he laughed but Roxas' face remained impassive. He was just as Sora remembered, an almost identical replica, save for different coloured hair and eyes.

"It's starting Sora", Roxas said as he began walking towards him. "He knows about you, he's coming for you and he won't stop till you're no longer a threat". Any friendly tone was gone from his voice. "You stand between Him and a universe enslaved". Roxas began to circle Sora, pacing slowly and deliberately.

"Who is He?" Sora asked while tracking Roxas' movements.

"He does not stand alone, his allies are numerous and powerful. He wields order in one hand and destruction in the other" Roxas raised both his hands, one was wreathed in brilliant light and the other wreathed in burning flame. "Not so different are they? At least not to him they're not"

Suddenly the darkness that enveloped Sora and Roxas exploded into brilliant life as all around them scenes of battle and destruction played out in a kaleidoscope manner. Screams, war cries, explosions and a whole plethora of sound assaulted Sora's ears at once. Great battle fleets exchanged withering hails of fire in orbit above planets, explosions ferociously tearing through their great hulls spraying debris and flames into the cold black of space. Ships of all design and origin were locked in colourful dances of death, their weapons threatening to tear the very fabric of space asunder. Sora recognised the Nobody vessels from their blocky white hulls, he saw what appeared to be modified Gummi craft and a third fleet of monstrous silver hulled warships all hell-bent on destroying each other.

The scenes shifted to battles on the ground. People screamed and ran as hordes of Heartless and Nobodies clashed on one world. Armoured figures with compact assault rifles backed by immense bipedal tanks marched relentlessly across a war-torn field towards the charred and blackened remains of an almost familiar town. The same figures clashed with both the Heartless and Nobodies in other scenes, while people that Sora knew occasionally appeared in those scenes either desperately fighting for their lives or lying broken and bloodied surrounded by other dead on some unknown field of battle. Sora recoiled in shock from the images and sounds that exploded all around, while Roxas stood indifferent staring down at Sora.

"What you see is only the beginning, Sora. He will stop at nothing to see a unified existence, even if it means turning all to ash". Roxas dispelled the images with a wave of his hand before offering it to Sora who shakily got back to his feet. "He's like Thanore, sorry, Xehanort".

Sora shook his head and ran a shaking hand through his hair before looking up at Roxas in confusion. "What do you mean he's like Xehanort and who's Thanore?" Sora took several steps back, straightened up and wished he had not as nausea almost overwhelmed him.

"He's an Ascendant, Sora and the only way we're going to stand a chance against him is to get up on his level", Roxas was suddenly more animated and a mirror of Sora's trademark lopsided grin split his face, but Sora took more steps back.

"Look Roxas, I don't know what you're talking about and this is all getting a little weird, what's an Ascendant, who's Thanore and what's all this about needing to be on their level", Sora stumbled back away from Roxas, wishing that whatever nightmare this is would end and soon. "And who's this He you keep talking about?!"

Roxas turned and began walking away into the darkness stopping only to turn and wave to Sora. "It'll all become clear with time, but I'll tell you something now, despite everything that's going to happen, there's one more player in our game that will ultimately decide how it all goes down and that's when you're going to truly see that this nightmare never actually began or ended with Ansem, Organisation XIII and the Ascendant".

"Wait!" Sora yelled as he ran after Roxas but he had already vanished and Sora began to feel faint, his vision was blurring again and before all became darkness again he heard Roxas voice one more time.

"One step at a time Sora, watch your back and I'll see you VERY soon".


	8. Chapter 8

**War Unending**

**Chapter 8: A Peace Shattered**

**Destiny Islands Mainland – Lands Fall Community School**

**3 Days Ago:**

The tinny sound of a rapidly ringing bell signalled the end of the day's final class. Murmurs of relief were voiced and punctuated with the rapid snap of book leather and the fastening of bags throughout the school. In one particular class, twenty or so students began the rapid ritual of packing their things as quickly as possible and trying to reach the door, but as always, the attempt failed.

"Settle down class, there's one more thing!" Flicking a lock of golden hair from her fair face, the teacher of this class covered the space between her desk and the door in one fluid motion. She spun on her booted heel, planted her hands firmly on her hips and gave the class a look that told them it best they settle down if they wanted to leave in any sort of good time. Immediately, they all sat down again, staring longingly at the door and their freedom for the next three months. Ms Trepe gave a slight grin and rolled her eyes before walking back to her desk and sitting on the corner of the polished wood surface with legs crossed.

At the back of the classroom, Riku let out a very quite sigh before turning to his left and then turning to the right. Sora and Kairi both returned his look of exasperation with sighs of their own. Riku leant back slightly and began slipping books into his bag, while Sora did the same thing. They all knew what was coming and knew that there was no avoiding it, like the relentless march of time, summer home work was unavoidable.

"Ok class, I need reports back from you first day you're back after summer, understand?" Ms Trepe's gaze swept across the entire room and the class mumbled their acknowledgment as the sounds of other school leavers began filtering in through the windows. "The topic will be something meaningful you did over the summer, thousand words minimum, now get out of here and I'll see you after summer". With a dismissive wave, the class rose in unison and bolted for the door. Sora, Riku and Kairi waited for the rush to pass and then began making their way out.

As Riku passed Ms Trepe's desk he turned and smiled at her: "Have a great summer Ms Trepe, see you on the island sometime?" His voice was honey-coated and backed by his smooth as ice attitude that he donned when in the presence of females he wanted the attention of.

"Probably" was the nonchalant answer that Ms Trepe gave as she rifled through a stack of papers on her desk, not once looking up into the expectant face of Riku. "If not, have a good summer", a barely noticeable shake of the head accompanied the not so heart felt goodbye. The trio left the room and began making their way out of the school.

As Riku walked the quiet corridor, he undid the top buttons of his shirt and then crossed his fingers behind his head. "Ha, see that guys, she digs me", Riku's face was split by a goofy grin as he continued walking. Sora and Kairi exchanged knowing glances behind him and quietly laughed.

"Sure she does Riku, in fact I think I heard her say she's going straight to the clothing store to pick up that swimsuit you said she'd look hot in", Sora gave another chuckle as he ran his hand through his hair. "Seriously you need a reality check", he adjusted the bag on his shoulder as he walked.

"Do not" Riku replied, no less sure of himself. "She likes me, Sora. She's just got to keep it quiet in case the other guys get jealous". Sora was certain if Riku's grin grew any wider his head would split in half. "Besides, we're on a first name basis outside school". Sora was certain that any moment now, Riku would trip and fall over his ego.

"Uh huh, only 'cause you heard Mr Loire call her by her first name", Kairi laughed as she unbound her red hair and linked arms with Sora. "And besides, she's older than you, never going to happen". She grinned at Sora and kissed him on the cheek. "And I've seen her when you call her Quistis outside school, she doesn't look impressed".

Riku let out a snort. "Shows what you know, she's only six years older than me and besides, I look her age". Sora and Kairi both conceded that point, as Riku did indeed look older than he actually was. The time he had spent as a double of Ansem had enhanced his physique and given him an overall older appearance. They both recalled the first day they came back to school after the events a year past and all the girls in their class swooned at the sight of Riku's new look. Of course, Riku played on this without much prompting and went on to restyle his hair so that it fell in silver spikes over his face, adding to the tall, dark and handsome motif he was adopting these days.

The trio emerged into the daylight and breathed in the air of freedom that marked the beginning of the summer break. They descended the white stone steps and began passing through the groups of students that were hurriedly making arrangements to meet over the holidays and then departing for their homes. They weaved their way through the crowds until they reached the roadside. The vehicle traffic was heavy, as always when school finished and they crossed over to the quieter side of the road at first opportunity.

"So what're we doing then?" Riku asked as he stretched his arms over his head. "Is it like we said we were going to do? Spend a week with the families and then go to the island?" The other two nodded in affirmation. Since they had returned, the three of them had changed quite considerably in the eyes of their families and friends, though what had occurred remained private knowledge between the three of them. They made efforts to spend more time with their nearest and dearest, gradually telling them of the events that had occurred, much to the apt horror of their families as the stories unfolded. "Ok then, I'm heading home, I'll see you two in a weeks time, right?" Riku remained facing his friends as he walked away in the opposite direction, his bag slung over his right shoulder.

"Count on it!" Sora called as he and Kairi began walking in the opposite direction.

They all waved to each other and then began their journeys home. Sora and Kairi, hand in hand, made their way towards the northern housing districts of Lands Fall while Riku made his way to his home in one of the southern farmsteads. The traffic, both human and vehicle eventually dwindled, leaving peaceful twilight as summer begun in earnest.

**Northern Landsfall – North Housing District**

The sun was just beginning to dip low by the time Sora and Kairi made it to the street that their families lived on. The Northern housing district was one of the smaller ones throughout the city, maybe one hundred homes arranged in a grid like pattern. The neighbourhood was quite most of the time and mostly nothing went on around the area, earning it the moniker of Sleepy town, much to the mixed chagrin and humour of its residents.

"You ok?" Kairi asked suddenly. Sora had been rather quiet while hey were walking home, which was unusual in itself. Even though sometimes they walked in comfortable silence, there was an edge to this silence like an unspoken threat. "You're really quite today, what's up?" Her voice was soft and inquisitive, gentle in its innocence but carried forth on the undertone of inner strength that Sora knew she possessed.

"Just strange dreams keeping me awake", Sora grinned and turned to avoid Kairi's eyes but knew without looking that she was unconvinced by his explanation. He ran his hand through his hair and down his neck, sighing deeply.

Kairi side stepped back into his view and smiled as she took his hand. "And there was me thinking I was the only thing that kept you awake at night", she winked and let out a little laugh. "Convince me a little more", she added quietly as they continued walking.

"It's him" Sora said finally and with resignation. Kairi turned and regarded quizzically for a moment before a brief flash of understanding crossed her soft features, but Sora failed to notice. "He's getting more real by the night, like he's going to just take over", Sora's hand was shaking. Fear was not something Kairi knew Sora succumbed to easily.

"Look, it's nothing". Kairi replied quickly stopping again to stand in front of Sora, looking deep into his tired eyes. He really was getting little sleep and it was affecting him visibly. But so did Sora notice something as he stared back, Kairi was hiding something, perhaps an understanding of the predicament, or perhaps something else, there was a barest hint of fear in her gaze, "It's just a bad dream, c'mon, let's get home".

**Imperium Prison Ship: Penitent – in orbit above Destiny Islands**

Even down to their physical layout, the prison ships of the Imperium were an oddity among the vast space armada. They forgo the sleek and fierce design of their military peers and adopted a roughly barrel shaped hull with the conical command deck on the forward hull and a bank of boxy engines arrayed on the rear hull. Many suggested that their role demanded that design, with prisoners being held in the 'barrel', secluded from the command deck and the engine bay. Others suggested that due to the low value of their cargo, the ships were designed to be cheap and efficient with no consideration to aesthetic appeal.

The Penitent itself was one of the oldest serving ships of its kind, with it having been one of the first that left the orbital ship yards of Mars. The hull was worn and bare save for its name, identification number, obvious signs of battle damage and repair, all were quite evident and at a glance, it did not have many years of service left. For this reason, Professor Hojo enjoyed using the Penitent as his mobile base of operations. There was a certain irony in the fact that despite the outer hulls aged appearance, inside the ship was as new and cutting edge as the Imperium could get. This deterred many would be attackers, after all, what value did a beaten up old prison ship have that was of worth?

The inside of the ship was still primarily a prison ship. The hull contained bare, hardened steel cells arrayed in a grid pattern the same as the prisons back on Earth. However, when the ship had been given to Hojo, he had half of the cells ripped out and replaced with a more compact version of his labs back on Earth. The cells became storage for Hojo's specimens, who could do nothing but look out across the walkway to the proverbial monsters den that was Hojo's lab, guarded by a full squad of the Imperium's elite Storm Troopers, whose appearance was no less menacing than the thin and bespectacled form of the Brotherhood's top scientist.

At present, only one of the cells was occupied and the inhabitant was less a prisoner and more like an honoured guest. His cell door was open, as were the others and the guards were elsewhere, attending to other matters. Hojo was sat at his desk, across the main hold from the bank of cells that dominated one side of the 'barrel'. The guest was actively exercising and Hojo watched with an approving stare as his guest lifted weights that no normal human his size should be able to with no more effort than Hojo raising his coffee cup to his face. He brushed a lock of dark hair from his face, readjusted his glasses and continued penning notes on the progress of his latest achievement. There was a heavy clang of metal and before Hojo could look up, a shadow fell over him; he stared up at the source of the shadow and the noise a second earlier. A man of hulking proportions stood over Hojo, dwarfing him and the desk.

"Lieutenant, is there a problem?" Hojo turned back to his work, apparently unfazed. The towering mound of sweat glistened muscle regarded Hojo for a moment before letting out a booming laugh that felt like it could shake the ship apart.

"Action? When?" the man's voice was base and harsh, he stared at Hojo through eyes that barely registered consciousness through the thick set features of his face. A torn military issue white combat vest was stretched over his barrel chest and massive arms. He pounded an immense fist into an equally immense palm with the force of a thunderbolt, causing the chain and tags that hung around his trunk like neck to jingle.

Hojo continued writing. "Soon, very soon, in fact, we've arrived at the testing ground, we just have to find you're test target", Hojo looked up again at the man mountain before him, looking disapprovingly at the scars that covered his upper torso and arms. "But we can't have you going out looking like that", with a motion Hojo indicated a bank of lockers behind him. "Take one of the reactive armour suits and get ready, you're about to make the history". The man's face split into a feral grin as he stomped over to the lockers. Hojo went back to his notes. "History in the making, for the glory of the Imperium", Hojo whispered as he finished his work.

**Northern Landsfall - North Housing District**

Sora and Kairi parted ways with a hug and a farewell, Kairi continuing further on into the housing district as Sora walked up the small neatly kept garden towards his families' home. It was a modest dwelling of white stone and red slate that had enough character to make it home and still be a part of the surrounding area. The deep crimson front door was unlocked and Sora entered with a tap and a called out greeting to anyone who may be home. The inside of the house was as rustic as the outside with white walls broken up by dark wood panels at regular intervals with the dark carpets and wooden ornamentations that adorned the house completing the effect.

There was a call from the kitchen which was straight down the corridor through a curtain of tiny sea shells of all shapes and colours that Sora had made several years prior, he distinctly recalled presenting it to his mother who thanked him and immediately hung it in front of the kitchen. Of course it was only later that Sora's mother learned it was a peace offering due to the unfortunate demise of a batch of her prized Galbanna Lilies that had perished in mysterious circumstance.

Sora dropped his bag behind the door and made his way towards the kitchen. The air was humid and sweet smelling the nearer he got and when he parted the gently chiming curtain, he saw his mother busy around the kitchen preparing food for later. There was steam rising from several pots and the windows had misted over, distorting the view of the rear garden.

Sora's mother Alaine was a tall and slender woman with long hair the colour of golden sands cascading over her shoulders. Her soft features and eyes of jade regarded him with a gentle smile before she returned to preparing a selection of vegetables that were arrayed before her; she mopped one hand over her brow before continuing.

"Good day at school Sora?" She selected a large cutting knife from the rack mounted on the wall beside the sink area. "Your grades have improved by all accounts", she said as she began cutting the vegetables.

"It was ok, nearly got away without a summer assignment, but Ms Trepe is too quick", Sora mused aloud with a mock sigh of resignation. He sat beside the little foldout table behind his mother as she continued working.

"Yeah, Quistis always is quick off the mark", Alaine chuckled quietly to herself. "Nice to hear she's still a stickler for hard work". They both laughed at that fair appraisal. "No Kairi tonight?" Alaine added as an after thought.

"Nah, she's at home", Sora replied with the faintest trace of regret.

"Ah, young love", Alaine continued chopping away quite happily. Sora blew a raspberry at that that not so fair appraisal, well, at least not in his opinion. "You two actually kissed yet?" Alaine managed between bouts of laughter.

"Well actually…wait a minute!" Sora leapt to his feet in mock defence. "Like I'd tell you anyway", he crossed his arms and pouted slightly.

"That'll be a no then, good for you Sora, no need to rush things, eh?" A hard voice echoed up the corridor from the front door. Sora cringed slightly and Alaine simply smiled. There was a sound of seashells jangling and then Sora was enveloped in a large pair of oil stained arms. "Besides, me and your mother didn't share our first kiss 'til we were eighteen, ain't that right sweetheart?". The voice right above Sora and the smell of oil and engine coolant was almost overwhelming.

"Of course baby, 'til we were eighteen", Alaine replied sarcastically. She placed several plates on the table in the middle of the kitchen. "Come on boys, let's eat". There was a scramble of movement and Sora slipped from under the arms that were nearly choking him and he practically leapt into his seat, while his father rounded the table and grabbed Alaine from behind as she turned to fetch a trio of glass cups. She exclaimed as he kissed the back of her neck and then spun into his own seat with an exaggerated flourish.

Sora's father, Max, was a well toned man with dark hair styled much the same as Sora's, except shorter and contained by a dark hair band. His sharp features, constant smile and dark eyes were complemented by his coarse stubble and streaks of dirt and oil that are accumulated after a day at the combined sea and orbital ship yards at Stars Peak. Many had told Sora that they wished their fathers were as laid back and fun as Max, as his gentle demeanour and informal approach to life as a whole made him instantly popular with whomever he met.

"Babe, I gotta go back to work in a few hours time, there's a priority landing, some Imperium ship needing repairs, sorry". Max gently rubbed his hand on Alaine's shoulder, quickly looked at his oil stained palm, then at Alaine's pale fleece and tended to his food without another word. They began their meal in earnest, but laughter and recounts of today's activities soon lightened the mood again. After a couple of hours engaged in general chatter, Max made his way out of the house and back to the Sea/Orbital Shipyards at Stars Peak. "I'll see you in the morning Sora, have a good night, ok", he added before leaving the house.

"And you Dad", Sora waved after him before helping his mother clear the table. He left his mother washing plates and made for his room on the first floor of the house. He dropped his satchel next to the door and collapsed onto his bed. He stared absently at the pale ceiling for a few moments, a strange melancholy temporarily seizing him. He rolled onto his side and peered out of the circular window. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon, a slowly fading disk of gold, bathing the world in a gentle glow. Sora cast his gaze towards the direction of Stars Peak. Even from here, Sora could make out the distinctly alien shape of the Imperium ship, though it was no larger than his hand in the distance. As he watched it descend, a strange feeling of foreboding settled over him and for a moment he sensed an inner turmoil, like something in him was stirring into life.

Sora had always felt the same when the Imperium was involved in anything. He had learned of them much the same time as the rest of the galaxy beyond Disney Castle had. He knew them to be a vast space faring civilisation that had conquered, burned and parlayed their way outward from their cradle world of Earth, which coincidently, no-one had ever been too, as the Imperium was quite clear that while their worlds were friendly ground, no one who was not of Earth descent could set foot upon her sacred ground. They came with terms of peace and talk of unification, which for the most part had convinced many their intentions were pure and good, an empire dedicated to order, justice and peace, a truly romantic vision.

Then the rumours had begun. The Imperium's military was vast, not what many had believed that a single world had produced, but truly vast. Their armies numbered in the tens of thousands of soldiers, thousands of warships and uncountable support personnel. A juggernaut of military might, one that could fall upon whole worlds and bludgeon them into submission in a single stride. It was not, however, the standard military that the rumours concerned. There were scattered (and vehemently denied) reports of 'others' that marched alongside the Imperium's armies. Shadow creatures that stalked their enemies in utter silence, emerging from nothing and vanishing again before retaliation could be dispensed. Gifted individuals, as powerful as they were varied, were seen among the rank and file. Wild tales of a man with silver hair wielding a blade twice as long as he was tall, others told of a monstrous man-machine hybrid, roaring in fury as it tore its enemies to bloody shreds under a salvo of rapid gun fire and even more disconcerting were the rumours of defiant governors and military leaders inexplicably dropping dead, a single bullet wound claiming them from distances that were so ludicrous, it bordered on impossible.

The Imperium did indeed possess many powerful weapons, but the rumours of the shadow creatures stalking alongside their armies and terrifying initially resistant worlds into compliance were creating an element of distrust among some would be allies. The only thing more unnerving than those rumours was the ones that concerned a handful of worlds within Imperial space that had been bombarded from orbit when resistance was deemed to great and compliance was rejected. A whole city, entire continents, the planet itself was mercilessly pounded from orbit until nothing but rubble remained, even when mercy was pleaded for, the guns never silenced. Whole civilisations were obliterated in a fiery conflagration, all they were, all they would ever be, reduced to nothing in night of systematic murder.

Emperor Darkonev had not denied those rumours; he had told those that had asked, with a seemingly heavy heart, that the inhabitants of those worlds had posed a significant threat to the stability of galactic peace and had to be stopped before their ravages spread. He added that though their punishments were seemingly extreme and unjust, there were worse fates. He did not elaborate, much to the relief of those assembled. But Sora had heard in hushed tones, the words 'sterilisation' and 'final solution' uttered when those few worlds that had been victim of those 'worse fates' were mentioned, he did not care to know anymore.

Sora shook the thoughts of the Imperium from his head as he rolled onto his side and reached for the personal communicator that lay on the bedside draws. He cycled through the memory and tapped the connect button. After a few seconds, Kairi's radiant smile filled the screen. Sora propped himself up and returned the smile. "Hey Kairi, you wanna do something tonight? Go hang out at the light fields?"

Kairi considered the proposal for a second before nodding her head vigorously, appearing rather eager, almost too eager. "Sure Sora, sure just give me half an hour to get ready and I'll meet you at the corner of my street, ok?" Sora could see a barely contained enthusiasm in Kairi's behaviour.

"Sure…ok, see you soon", Sora was unsure how to react, so simply agreed and ended the call. He lay back down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The sense of unease returned to the forefront of Sora's mind. He brushed it away again and made to get changed into more formal clothes. When he was ready, he made his way downstairs and found his mother at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at him expectantly. Sora paused for a second before continuing.

"Where are you off to?" Alaine asked with a faint smile.

Sora stopped at the foot of the stairs. "Going to meet Kairi and then going over to the light fields, possibly with Riku and some others, why?" Sora realised a second too late that he may have said too much already. Alaine looked at him, mock disappointment on her face.

"You could have picked somewhere more original to take her, honestly, you listen to your father way to much", she giggled and turned to make for the lounge. "Just remember, your both still young, don't rush into anything". Before Sora could reply, she left his sight, leaving him with a burning face and a half choked out defence.

He forced himself out of the front door and made all speed for the street that Kairi lived on. The last vestiges of light were still painting the sky, as Sora made his way through the near deserted streets towards where Kairi would be meeting him. When he finally arrived he found Kairi waiting for him, as per usual; she was early. However that was all that was usual about what he saw. Kairi wore a dress of dark crimson, form fitting from the shoulders down to where it ended just above her knees, she was alluring and elegant with her hair held high and the surgical use of scant dark eye liner to elaborate her bright eyes and a gentle brushing of rouge to augment her pale skin and glorious smile. She smiled at him and waved before approaching.

"Hey Sora", she gently took his arm in hers and began leading the awestruck Sora towards the direction of the light fields. Sora could do nought but stare in amazement, before realising his mouth was agape and closing it. He fell in step with her, but found himself constantly looking her over, unsure what had warranted her change in appearance. She caught him looking and blushed a little more, "Do you like it?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah, you look great, better than great", Sora felt his face burning again and his heart rate had increased to that of a small rodent. "So what's the occasion then? Hey, have you called Riku and the others, erm…" Sora felt compelled to stare but kept looking away whenever she turned smiled. She looked good, better than he knew possible, his stomach threatened to flip over on itself.

She shook her head. "No, I just wanted it to be me and you tonight". Her voice was different too, somehow softer and minus the edge it had since the events of three years ago, like she was somehow, relaxed again, which of course did nothing to settle Sora's stomach or heart rate. He merely nodded dumbly and continued walking.

After an hour or so, the houses gave way to the vast fields that separated Lands Fall and Stars Peak. All manner of food items were grown in these fields and harvested by the families that lived in the houses dotted throughout the patchwork landscape. The night air was quite and still, the gentle hum of insects and night birds created a gentle symphony that made walking the path through the field more symbolic and romantic. They made their way along the path until they reached their destination; the light fields.

Unique to the Destiny Islands was a truly marvellous specimen of flower; Stardysteria. The head of each single bloom was no larger than a child's palm and was made up of dozens of tiny blue-white petals that resembled a falling star. However, beyond their truly compelling aesthetic appeal, they had one other unique trait. When the light of a moon fell upon them they glowed with the brilliance of a tiny star, which alone or even in a group were sight to behold, but when an entire field of them was bathed in the moon's glow they created a carpet of light that was matched by little else in its glorious luminescence. It was a sight that reached straight to the heart and left all who saw it in a state of awe and moved almost to tears and tonight was no exception.

Sora and Kairi stood on the path, gazing out across the largest of the Stardysteria fields. Small insects that had been speckled by the pollen of the flower flew in tight circles all across the fields, adding to the brilliance of the scene. Kairi laid her head against Sora's arm and sighed gently, "Beautiful isn't it?" she whispered, barely audible above the chirrups of the night insects. Sora merely nodded, unsure and possibly unable to speak at this moment in time. They stared for what seemed like an eternity across the glowing landscape, before Kairi gently pulled Sora over to a gap in the wooden fences that ran alongside the dirt track, they crossed the gap and found a spot among the flowers to sit. Sora quickly pulled his jacket off and placed it under where Kairi was about to sit, she smiled and thanked him before sitting down with legs folded in front of her, Sora quickly joining her.

"So…why'd you want to come out here?" Kairi asked as she gently caressed one of the flowers next to her. Sora once again found himself simply staring at her and apprehension heavy in his chest, like someone had attached chains to his heart and lungs. He went to open his mouth to say something, but found the words would not come to him. "They're so pretty", Kairi added as she turned her attention to Sora, who immediately cast his gaze to the nearest bloom.

"Erm…yeah, they sure are", Sora finally managed. _This is ridiculous,_ he told himself. _Just talk to her, you've been through hell and back together, stop being such a coward._ Sora was suddenly not so sure that was his own mind talking to him, but the advice was sound. "Kairi, I've been thinking about us, I mean things, uh – ok I do mean us", Sora could feel himself perspiring, he clawed the bare earth next to him as he continued. "Look, what I'm trying to say is, that I, erm… that I… like…you…a lot". He quickly raised his head to look at Kairi and he nearly collided with her face as she had moved much closer while he had been speaking to the floor.

"You do?" Kairi's eyes widened into two deep pools of sapphire and she looked set to burst into tears at any second. Sora suddenly regretted opening his mouth and made to try and shuffle away, but her hand closed around his and she stopped him (almost literally) dead. "Sora…I…don't know what to say, I mean…I really like you too and we've been through so much together the last few years and…" Sora stared on in abject horror as Kairi continued speaking. This was a bad idea; he should never have arranged this and should never have told her what he just did.

_For the love of eternity, will you just make a move already, it's embarrassing watching this. Are you the Keyblade wielder, slayer of Heartless and Hero of dozens of worlds? Aren't you the guy that took out Ansem, Organisation XIII and Maleficent? Now you're choking on a moment that you should be handling with ease! Damn man, just say what you know has to be said and spare me this torture. _Sora had no idea where that voice had come from, but once again found he was thankful for its advice.

"Kairi, would you go out with me?" There, he said it. A sudden sense of elation washed over him, like a crushing weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. "Because, I…" _Come on Sora, now's the time, "_Because I love you". Now he was going in the opposite direction, he felt lighter than air, giddy with excitement and fear. He slowly turned to face Kairi, half expecting her to have runaway. She simply sat there, staring at him, tears gently streamed down her pale face, catching the light of the Stardysteria and creating a small stream of light that dripped to the soft earth.

Kairi slowly raised a hand and cupped Sora's cheek, her smile was somehow even more radiant than before and she began so speak, her voice a barely audible whisper,"Sora, I love you too" and with that she pulled his face to hers and their lips met in what felt to both of them like a jolt of pure rapture, the indescribable feeling of two beings becoming one for a single perfect moment. After what seemed like a criminally short time, Sora and Kairi pulled apart and regarded each other, both their hearts pounding and idiot grins on both of their faces. "That was nice", Kairi finally said. She shuffled over to sit next to Sora, who was slower to recover and still staring at where Kairi had been sitting. She wrapped her arms around him and lay head on his shoulder. Together they stared up at the stars, a perfect moment that nothing would disturb.

Scant seconds passed and Kairi turned her head just in time to see a blur of movement and something part the Stardysteria flowers to her right, just before she felt a massive blow connect with Sora's midsection and send him tumbling off into the flowers. Kairi was thrown in the opposite direction and she tumbled to a halt; what just happened? She was certain that she had seen the outline of a figure just before she and Sora were thrown in opposite directions. Then, completely unbidden, the image of a massive gloved hand grabbing her shoulder and throwing her backwards just as a massive booted foot connected with Sora's midsection, came to her mind. Who or what could move at such terrifying speeds that it barely registered?

Kairi stood up, looked over to wear Sora had skidded to a halt and saw him shakily picking himself up. Just as he finished standing, another blur and a flash of light, brighter than the glow of the Stardysterias, exploded from where he stood. Kairi shielded her eyes from the sudden burst, but was then desperately trying to blink away the nimbus that played in front of her eyes. When she could see again, she turned to where the light had exploded from.

Sora was stood with his Keyblade horizontally in front of him, one hand clutching the grip and the other hand behind the blade; his face was contorted in pain as he held back a large, black gloved fist. The fist belonged to what she assumed was a man, a very large man who was almost as tall as he was broad, with bulging muscle visible beneath the form fitting black material suit that he wore. Dark hexagonal pads of what Kairi assumed was armour, covered all of the vital areas such as knees, chest and shoulders. The man's face was hidden by a breather mask and a set of triple electric-blue optical lenses that clicked and realigned as he stared down at Sora.

They both were locked in a test of strength, Sora being slowly pushed to his knees by the monstrous fist of the armoured giant that loomed over him. The man's breathing was quite audible, it had been ragged to start with, but then became more regulated as Sora was forced to one knee trying to hold back the hammer blow that would crush him as soon as his guard dropped. The look of pain intensified on Sora's face as he dropped to his knees and the unknown aggressor laughed, a grating metallic rasp that intensified the more Sora gave ground to him.

Kairi watched in horror, but before she could move, there was another flash of light, though she managed to avert her gaze this time and turned back just in time to see Sora throw back the attacker's fist and then launch an upper cut in an inhuman display of speed. The Keyblade flashed across the unknown assailants face and he leaped backwards away from Sora, who now stood fully upright, a strange nimbus of light playing around him. Kairi could swear that his hair had lightened in colour as it waved gently in the breeze.

Sora has no idea what was going on. One moment he had been sitting peacefully with Kairi in the most perfect place on Destiny Islands, having just enjoyed one of the greatest moments of his life and then the next thing he knew he was sailing through the air with the most intense pain in his midsection, he barely registered what had collided with him and knocked him flying. He made out a large humanoid that was dressed in a suit of dark armour, three electric-blue eyes followed his ascent and rapid descent and then the figure disappeared from his vision again in a blur of movement.

_Sora, wake the hell up! That guy nearly kicked you in half! You're going to get us killed at this rate. Tuck your legs in, land hard and for heaven's sake stand up ASAP, that guy is far from finished with us. _That voice again. Sora was beginning to think that he knew who that voice belonged to and did not like the conclusion that he reached at all. Sora crashed to the ground a split second later, felt something give way in his left shoulder and then rolled to a halt. He stood up as quickly as he could, wishing that he hadn't when the searing pain in his shoulder nearly floored him again. He surveyed all around him and barely registered the massive figure hurtling towards him at ridiculous speeds.

_No good, you're too slow, this guy is going to punch right through you, sorry dude but I gotta take over for a second. _Faster than Sora knew he could possibly move, his right arm whipped behind him and he felt the familiar tingling of a key blade materialising in his hand, then an instant before the massive fist collided with his face, his arm whipped back round and bought the gigantic fist to a thunderous halt that forced Sora several inches down into the ground he stood on. Unbidden, his other hand found itself behind the blade, lending stability to the shaky defensive stance. Sora now found himself face to face with his assailant and was more confused than afraid. The triple lenses clicked and refocused on Sora as the large man applied more strength, forcing Sora down on one knee. Sora's shoulder burned in agony as he was forced further down until he felt he was going to pass out from the pain. His vision began to swim and darken for a moment before a brilliant flash of light temporarily blinded him.

_Sorry Sora, but if I don't do this, we're both dead and I'm not ready to die yet. Just sit back and enjoy the show._

Kairi watched in rapt attention as Sora and the unknown attacker began circling each other. Sora definitely looked different; his stance had gone from pain and shock to a relaxed combat readiness and a slight swagger that Kairi had never seen him in before. His hair was also lighter and was seemingly more upright in the breeze. His eyes were ablaze with light as he looked his opponent over, she could have sworn he was smirking at the attacker and in that something was definitely wrong. At least he was on his feet, ready to defend himself, rather than lying on the floor being kicked to death.

The large assailant had pulled the ruined optic lenses from his face with a contemptuous gesture and now they could see he was at least human. His eyes immediately drew Kairi's attention; they were orbs of pure darkness with a yellow iris at their centre. The large man scanned Sora as they circled each other; his eyes belied his contempt and Kairi could see a faint trace of disappointment.

"So you're the target, huh kid?" The large man said aloud as they continued circling, his hands balling into fists and then relaxing again. Sora's eyes narrowed briefly at that remark, before returning to normal, though his smirk widened. "You're supposed to be the greatest fighter in the universe, the saviour of worlds!" the man's tone was mocking and he opened his arms in an all encompassing gesture. "The slayer of Heartless", his voice went dangerously quiet as he spoke again. "I'm disappointed. Oh well, after I kill you they're going to finish my treatment and then I'll be one of the chosen". The man stopped circling and stood facing Sora, who also stopped.

"We'll see about that big man. You stink like a heartless! I should have known what you were sooner", Sora's tone of voice was slightly different now and yet maddeningly familiar to Kairi. "And after I beat you down, we're going to have a long talk about everything you know". His voice betrayed no fear as he bought his Keyblade to the fore.

The large man began laughing as he unfastened his breather unit and let it clatter to the ground. Sora hesitated for a moment as he blinked twice and stared at the man's face. Kairi followed Sora's line of sight to a small red mark on the large man's right cheek; a heart wreathed in thorns, the insignia of the Heartless. The man closed his eyes as his skin began to darken and take on an oily texture, his eyes shot open and now they were two orbs of brilliant yellow. The emblem on his cheek burned brighter as he relaxed his stance for a moment.

"You think me to be a simple Heartless? Don't make me laugh you little punk!" The man's voice was now more base and hollow than before. He crossed his arms over his chest as tendrils of darkness crawled over his body and reformed into spines along his back. The darkness crawled over his immense hands, transforming them into ebony talons as long as Sora's Keyblade. He pointed one claw at Sora, "Now I'm going to teach you the true meaning of power".

Sora's grin widened and he begun laughing as he pointed his Keyblade towards his opponent. "You really have no idea who you're messing with, but that's fine, I can do a little teaching myself". Kairi was utterly baffled by the uncharacteristic arrogance of what Sora was saying, but again found her attention was drawn to the large man. His face had contorted in rage at the casual dismissal from his opponent; he bared a maw of fangs that dripped darkness into the earth as his claws opened and closed with slow and deliberate movements.

"Die" was the only word that left the unknown attackers mouth. Another tiny flash of light flashed on his opposite cheek. A silver cross, each end pointed and its base sat in-between two imperfect circles appeared which both Sora and Kairi immediately recognised to be the symbol of the Nobodies, but how was it possible any being could bear both the mark of a Heartless and that of the Nobodies? There was no time to consider this mystery as the large man's skin began to shift colour to pale silver. A mask, not too dissimilar to the one worn by the Nobodies elite warriors, formed over his face as a large silver blade, like a sliver of pure moonlight, appeared in his right talon.

Sora stared in horror at the Heartless/Nobody hybrid as it too stared at him through the vision slit in its mask. Both opponents locked eyes before charging at each other at truly inhuman speed. Kairi watched on helplessly as their blades collided in a colossal clash of pure energy and the battle truly began.


End file.
